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V 


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THE    LAW 


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MENTAL   MEDICINE 


BY   DR.    HUDSON. 

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MENTAL   MEDICINE 


THE  CORRELATION  OF  THE  FACTS  OF  PSYCHOLOGY 

AND   HISTOLOGY  IN   THEIR  RELATION 

TO  MENTAL  THERAPEUTICS 


BY 

THOMSON  JAY 'HUDSON,  PH.D.,  LL.D. 

AUTHOR   OF   "THE  LAW   OF   PSYCHIC   PHENOMENA," 
"THE  DIVINE   PEDIGREE   OF    MAN,"  ETC. 


SIXTH  EDITION 


CHICAGO 

A.  C.   McCLURG  &   CO. 
1909 


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PREFACE 

THE  object  of  this  book  is,  primarily,  to  assist 
in  placing  mental  therapeutics  on  a  firmly 
scientific  basis,  and  incidentally  to  place  within  the 
reach  of  the  humblest  intellect  the  most  effective 
methods  of  healing  the  sick  by  mental  processes. 

Part  I.  contains  nothing  new  to  the  scientific 
world,  except,  perhaps,  the  method  of  treatment.  It 
pertains  solely  to  the  psychological  principles  of 
mental  medicine.  These  were  outlined  in  my  first 
work,  entitled  "  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena," 
ten  years  ago,  and  they  are  now  taught  in  every 
reputable  school  of  suggestive  therapeutics.  The 
reader  will  find,  however,  that  the  subject  is  by  no 
means  exhausted,  and  that  the  law  of  suggestion  is 
the  most  important  factor  in  man's  mental  make-up. 

In  Part  II.  the  fact  is  for  the  first  time  recognized 
that  no  hypothesis  can  possibly  embrace  a  complete 
science  of  mental  therapeutics  that  fails  to  take  cog- 
nizance of  those  facts  of  physiology  and  histology 
which  pertain  to  the  subject-matter.  Necessarily, 
the  subjective  mind,  when  it  exercises  its  powers 
over  the  body,  in  health  and  disease,  operates  through 
instrumentalities ;  that  is  to  say,  there  must  exist  a 
physical  mechanism  through  which  the  mind  oper- 
ates, and  that  mechanism  must  necessarily  be  adapted 


vi"  PREFACE 

to  its  uses.  Moreover,  we  might  reasonably  expect 
that  the  mechanism,  when  found,  would  be  so  ob- 
viously adapted  to  therapeutic  uses  as  to  leave  no 
doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  investigator.  Accordingly 
we  find  in  man  a  physical  structure  so  obviously 
adapted  to  the  uses  of  mental  healing  that  it  leaves 
one  in  doubt  whether  or  not  all  therapeutic  agencies, 
in  their  ultimate  analysis,  may  not  be  classed  as 
mental.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  obvious  that  a  cor- 
relation of  the  facts  of  psychology  and  histology 
must  lead  to  some  very  valuable  discoveries,  not 
alone  in  the  field  of  mental  therapeutics,  but  in  all 
branches  of  inquiry  where  the  control  of  the  body 
by  the  mind  is  a  factor.  A  few  of  these  discoveries 
are  outlined  in  the  following  pages.  Without  stop- 
ping to  enumerate  them  in  detail,  I  think  I  am  jus- 
tified in  claiming  to  have  thrown  much  light  upon 
some  very  obscure  problems ;  for  instance,  the  method 
of  healing  which  in  ancient  times  was  known  as  "the 
laying  on  of  hands,"  and  in  modern  times  has  been 
designated  as  "  animal  magnetism,"  "  mesmerism," 
etc.  I  have  also  incidentally  touched  upon  the  prob- 
lem of  natural  sleep,  and  I  have  tentatively  suggested 
a  solution  of  the  world-old  problem,  What  are  the 
physical  changes  that  produce  the  phenomenon  of 
unconsciousness  during  natural  sleep?  If  my  hy- 
pothesis is  correct  on  this  question,  it  simplifies  the 
whole  subject-matter,  and  throws  a  flood  of  light 
upon  hypnotism  and  all  other  forms  of  artificial 
sleep. 

In  pursuing  my  investigations  of  the  physical 
sciences  bearing  upon  the  question  of  mental  heal- 
ing, I  have  been  careful  to  confine  myself  to  authori- 


PREFACE  1* 

ties  which  are  recognized  by  the  modern  scientists 
of  the  medical  profession;  and  I  here  take  occasion 
to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness,  fearing  that  in  the 
hurry  of  writing  I  may  have  failed  to  give  credit 
where  credit  is  due.  The  principal  works  consulted 
are  the  following:  Gray's  Anatomy;  Landois  and 
Stirling's  Text-book  of  Human  Physiology;  Bohm- 
Davidoff's  Text-book  of  Histology;  Green's  Pathol- 
ogy and  Morbid  Anatomy;  Dunham's  Histology, 
Normal  and  Morbid;  Stephens's  Pluricellular  Man; 
Hilton's  Lectures  on  Rest  and  Pain ;  Halleck's  Edu- 
cation of  the  Central  Nervous  System;  Robinson's 
The  Abdominal  Brain;  Romanes'  Mental  Evolution 
in  Animals;  Romanes'  Animal  Intelligence;  Ave- 
bury's  (Sir  John  Lubbock)  Ants,  Bees,  and  Wasps; 
Binet's  The  Psychic  Life  of  Micro-organisms; 
Haeckel's  The  Evolution  of  Man;  Ochorowicz's 
Mental  Suggestion. 

,T.  J.  H. 

DETROIT,  MICH.,  May  i,  1903. 


CONTENTS 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL   PRINCIPLES    INVOLVED   IN 
MENTAL  HEALING 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTORY 

PAGE 

Ancient  Superstitions.  —  All  Diseases  referred  to  Bad  Spirits. — 
All  Healing  of  Disease  credited  to  Good  Spirits.  —  Innumerable 
Theories  of  Causation  prevalent  among  Primitive  Peoples. — 
Many  of  them  still  survive  in  Modified  Forms  ;  some  of  the  most 
grotesque  being  extremely  popular  in  the  midst  of  the  Highest 
Civilization. —  All  Systems,  Ancient  and  Modern,  have  been 
successful  in  healing  the  Sick.  —  This  Fact  alone  challenges 
the  Attention  of  Science.  —  It  indicates  the  Existence  of  a  Law 
pertaining  generically  to  all  Systems.  —  No  Logical  Connection 
between  Theories  of  Causation  and  the  Results  produced ;  other- 
wise all  Systems,  from  Fetichism  to  the  most  Modern  Modifica- 
tion of  that  System,  would  be  able  to  "  demonstrate  "  their 
Theories.  —  The  Logic  of  Primitive  Minds  the  same  in  all  the 
Ages.  —  The  Question  of  Mental  Healing  is  primarily  a  psycho- 
logical one ;  hence  the  Necessity  of  studying  the  Fundamental 
Principles  of  Psychology  as  a  Basis  of  a  Correct  Theory  of 
Causation.  —  Recent  Discovery  of  a  Primary  Intelligence  below 
the  Threshold  of  Normal  Consciousness  enables  us  to  study  the 
Subject  inductively.  —  The  Facts  of  Physiology  and  Histology 
reveal  the  Rationale  of  Mental  Healing.  —  It  is  unnecessary  to 
antagonize  Established  Systems  of  Material  Therapeutics. — 
We  are  indebted  to  Doctors  of  Medicine  for  much  of  the  Knowl- 
edge which  enables  us  to  formulate  a  Rational  Theory.  —  The 
Correlation  of  all  the  Facts  of  Psychology  and  Physiology  is 


xii  CONTENTS 

PACK 

necessary  for  placing  Mental  Therapeutics  on  a  Scientific  Basis. — 
Many  Medical  Men  employ  the  Methods  of  Suggestive  Therapeu- 
tics in  their  Daily  Practice.  —  The  Discovery  of  the  Law  of  Sug- 
gestion by  a  Member  of  the  Medical  Profession  was  the  first 
Great  Step  in  the  Direction  of  a  True  Explication  of  Mental 
Therapeutics.  —  The  next  Great  Step  was  its  Generalization 
under  the  Law  of  the  Duality  of  Mind.  —  The  Correlation  of  all 
the  Facts  of  Mental  and  Physical  Science  is  therefore  essential  .  3 


CHAPTER   II 

FIRST   PRINCIPLES 

Mental  Healing  is  not  a  Religion.  —  The  Example  of  Jesus  is  con- 
clusive on  that  Point.  —  Nothing  Supernatural  in  Mental  Medi- 
cine. —  The  Power  that  Heals  resides  within  the  Patient.  — This 
was  the  Doctrine  taught  by  Jesus  and  epitomized  in  the  Words 
"  Thy  Faith  hath  made  Thee  whole."  —  The  Word  "  Faith,"  as 
he  employed  it,  means  not  only  "  Belief"  or  u  Confidence,"  but 
includes  all  the  Spiritual  Energies  of  the  Human  Soul.  —  It  is 
not  only  prerequisite  to  Success  in  Mental  Healing,  but  is  a 
Dynamic  Energy,  besides.  —  Modern  Science  has  succeeded  only 
in  demonstrating  the  Scientific  Accuracy  of  the  Master's  Knowl- 
edge of  Mental  Therapeutics. —  The  Whole  Art  of  Mental  Heal- 
ing consists  in  knowing  how  to  induce  the  Condition  of  Faith 
in  the  Patient.  —  The  Fundamental  Psychological  Principles 
involved.  —  Suggestion  a  Universal  Law  of  the  Subjective  Mind. 

—  Limitations  of  Subjective  Powers  of  Reasoning.  —  False  and 
True  Suggestions.  —  Potency  of  Auto-Suggestions.  —  Moral  Prin- 
ciples constitute  Auto-Suggestions.  —  Resistance  to  False  Sug- 
gestions.—  Effectiveness  of  Suggestion  not  dependent  upon  the 
Hypnotic  Condition.  —  Passivity  of  the  Mind  the  Equivalent  of 
Hypnosis  for  Therapeutic  Purposes.  —  Suggestions  based  upon 
Scientific  Truth  are  most  effective.  —  The  Third  Fundamental 
Psychological  Principle  '. 16 

CHAPTER   III 

THE   VARIOUS   SYSTEMS   OF   MENTAL   HEALING 

The  Intelligence  that  controls  the  Functions  of  the  Body  in  Health 
thePower  or  Energy  that  requires  Assistance  in  Case  of  Disease. 

—  The  Body  a  Confederation  of  Micro-organisms  controlled  by 
this  Central  Intelligence.  —  It  is  a  Mental  Organism  that   all 
Therapeutic  Agencies  are  designed  to  energize.  —  Mental  Thera- 


CONTENTS  xni 

PAGE 

peutic  Agencies  the  Primary  and  Normal  Means  for  this  End.  — 
Physical  Agencies  not  excluded.  —  A  Mental  Stimulus  more 
direct  and  positive  than  a  Physical  One.  —  Material  Remedies 
Good  and  Legitimate  Forms  of  Suggestion. —  Whether  Reme- 
dies are  Material  or  Mental,  they  must  energize  the  Central 
Controlling  Intelligence.  —  The  Therapeutic  Value  of  all  Agen- 
cies proportioned  to  their  Power  to  stimulate  the  Subjective 
Mind.  —  Suggestion  the  Prepotent  Therapeutic  Energy.  —  This 
is  the  Law  of  Mental  Healing.  —  The  Teleological  Argument  to 
be  drawn  from  the  Law  of  Mental  Medicine.  —  None  other  so 
demonstrative  of  Divine  Benevolence.  —  Absence  of  Fear  and 
Pain  at  the  Moment  of  Dissolution.  —  This  Phenomenon,  con- 
sidered together  with  the  Law  of  Mental  Healing,  possesses  a 
Teleological  Significance.  —  The  Law  of  Mental  Healing  is  uni- 
versal and  adapted  to  every  Grade  of  Human  Intelligence. — 
Antiquity  of  Suggestion  as  a  Therapeutic  Agent.  —  Its  Myriad 
Forms.  —  All  effective  in  proportion  to  their  Faith-Inspiring 
Potency.  —  Scientific  Significance  of  the  Beliefs  and  Practices 
of  Primitive  Humanity.  —  All  were  useful,  and  each  was  adapted 
to  some  Special  Grade  of  Intelligence.  —  Primitive  Minds  still 
exist  in  the  Highest  Modern  Civilization  with  Corresponding 
Powers  of  Reasoning.  —  Current  Beliefs  adapted  to  Varying 
Grades  of  Intelligence. — Their  Religious  Features  Potent  Factors 
in  their  Success.  —  Systems  based  upon  Error  less  efficacious 
than  one  founded  upon  Truth.  —  Nearly  all  refer  the  Healing 
Power  to  Extraneous  Sources,  an  Error  which  Jesus  insistently 
controverted 31 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  DUPLEX   MENTAL   ORGANISM 

Faith  can  be  acquired  by  Study  and  Reasoning.  —  Thus  acquired, 
it  is  perfect  and  permanent.  —  It  is  essential  that  the  Healer  be 
grounded  in  the  Fundamental  Principles  of  his  Science.  —  The 
Phenomena  of  Dreams  point  to  the  Theory  of  the  Dual  Mind. — 
The  Operations  of  the  Dream  Intelligence  essentially  different 
from  those  of  Waking  Consciousness.  —  The  Subjective,  or 
Dream  Intelligence  incapable  of  Inductive  Reasoning,  and  con- 
trolled by  Suggestion.  —  Rapidity  of  Subjective  Mentation. — 
Hypnotism  a  Means  by  which  Dreams  can  be  induced,  con- 
trolled, and  experimented  with.  —  It  is  the  Instrument  for  the 
Investigation  of  the  Problems  of  Psychology.  —  It  has  found  in 
Man  a  Soul,  and  revealed  the  Evidence  of  its  Divine  Origin,  — 


xiv  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

It  has  segregated  the  Phenomena  of  the  Objective  and  Subjec- 
tive Minds,  and  shown  the  Distinctive  Powers  and  Limitations 
<9f  Each 51 

CHAPTER    V 
THE   LAW   OF   SUGGESTION  (HISTORICAL) 

A  Law  must  be  formulated  in  Terms  indicating  Universality  before 
it  can  be  made  available  for  Scientific  Purposes.  —  Antagonism 
of  Conservative  Science.  —  Opposition  to  Newton's  Discovery. 

—  The  Laws  of  Duality  of  Mind  and  of  Suggestion  dimly  per- 
ceived for  Ages.  —  The  two  Laws  Necessary  Concomitants  of 
each  other.  —  The  Recognition  of  their  Relation  a  Prerequisite 
of  their  Formulation.  —  Jesus  the  First  to  promulgate  the  Law 
of  Mental  Healing.  —  His  Declaration  of  the  Therapeutic  Potency 
of  Faith  confirmed  by  Modern  Science.  —  Braid's  Experiments 
in  Hypnotism.  —  Liebault's  Discovery  of  the  Law  of  Suggestion. 

—  This  Law  incomplete  without  the  Law  of  Dual  Mind.  —  The 
Importance  of  the  Law  of  Suggestion  outside  the  Field  of  Thera- 
peutics    64 

CHAPTER  VI 

SUGGESTION   IN   LOWER   ANIMAL   LIFE 

Evidence  for  the  Laws  of  Duality  of  Mind  and  of  Suggestion  must 
be  found  in  Lower  Animals.  —  The  Subjective  the  Primordial 
Mind.  —  The  Brain  a  Product  of  Evolution.  —  The  Subjective 
the  Mind  of  Instinct  and  Intuition.  —  Necessity  for  Secondary 
Instincts.  —  Induction  in  Lower  Animals.  —  Secondary  Instincts 
created  by  the  Objective  Mind.  —  The  Mental  Processes  In- 
volved. —  All  Evolutionary  Development  of  Animal  Intelligence 
due  to  Suggestion.  —  The  Law  of  Suggestion  an  Essential  Factor 
in  the  Progress  of  Civilization.  —  It  is  the  One  Available  Means 
whereby  Man  may  neutralize  the  Evils  due  to  Heredity  .  .  .  81 

CHAPTER  VII 

SUGGESTIONS   ADVERSE   TO   HEALTH 

The  more  Beneficent  a  Law  of  Nature,  the  Heavier  the  Penalty  for 
its  Violation. — This  Axiom  as  applicable  to  Laws  of  Life,  Mind, 
and  Health  as  to  any  other  Law.  —  Exemption  of  the  Lower 
Animals  from  Suggestions  Adverse  to  Health.  —  Man  the  Prey 
of  such  Suggestions.  —  The  Potency  of  Adverse  Suggestions 
equal  to  that  of  Therapeutic  Suggestions.  —  The  Newspaper 


CONTENTS  xv 

PACK 

an  Agency  for  the  Promulgation  of  Suggestions  Adverse  to 
Health.  —  The  Patent-Medicine  Advertisement.  —  The  Danger 
of  Adverse  Suggestions  to  Students  of  Medicine.  —  Newspaper 
Literature  relating  to  Diet.  —  Pernicious  Dietetics.  —  Auto-Sug- 
gestion the  Safeguard 93 

CHAPTER  VIII 
"PURITANICAL"  DIET  AND  MEDICINE 

Asceticism  of  our  Puritan  Ancestors.  —  Tendency  of  Primitive 
Minds  to  reason  by  Analogy.  —  Influence  of  Asceticism  on 
Dietetics,  -r  The  Appetite  usually  a  Safe  Guide.  —  Dyspepsia 
often  caused  by  Suggestion.  —  The  Principle  of  Asceticism  in 
the  Old  Medical  Practice.  —  Importance  of  the  Law  of  Sug- 
gestion in  Connection  with  Diet  and  Medicine 115 

CHAPTER  IX 

AUTO-SUGGESTION 

The  Fundamental  Psychological  Principles  restated.  —  Fatal  Po- 
tency of  Fear  in  Epidemics.  —  Pathological  Power  of  "  Expectant 
Attention."  —  Appendicitis.  —  Any  Disease  that  can  be  induced 
by  Suggestion  can  be  avoided  by  Counter-Suggestion  or  by 
ignoring  Adverse  Suggestion.  —  Avoidance  of  Adverse  Sugges- 
tion. —  Suggestion  in  Connection  with  Habitual  Drunkenness 
and  Dipsomania.  —  Counter-Suggestion  as  a  Prophylactic.  — 
Danger  of  Injudicious  Sympathy.  —  False  Dietetic  Suggestions 
to  Children 130 


'  THE   CORRELATION   OF  THE   FACTS   OF 
PSYCHOLOGY  AND   PHYSIOLOGY  IN   CONNECTION 
tWITH   MENTAL   HEALING 

CHAPTER   I 

INTRODUCTORY 

The  Facts  of  Psychology  and  Physiology  to  be  Correlated.  —  All 
Organic  Tissue  composed  of  Intelligent  Microscopic  Cells.— 
Disease  of  the  Body  is  Disease  of  the  Cells  of  the  Body.  —  The 
Cells  amenable  to  Control  by  the  Subjective  Mind.  —  The  Fluidic 


xvi  CONTENTS 

PAGB 

Theory  of  Mesmerism.  —  The  Nancy  School.  —  The  Force  or 
Energy  which  controls  the  Bodily  Functions  a  Mental  Energy. — 
It  operates  upon  the  Subordinate  Intelligent  Cells  through  the 
Nerves.  —  Histionic  Suggestion.  —  The  Nerves  the  Mechanism 
for  the  Conveyance  of  Therapeutic  Impulse  from  Healer  to 
Patient. —  Histionic  Suggestion  effective  without  Hypnotism  and 
in  Defiance  of  Adverse  Auto-Suggestions 161 

CHAPTER   II 

THE  PHYSICAL  MECHANISM  THROUGH  WHICH  MENTAL  HEALING 
IS   EFFECTED 

Evidence  for  a  Duplex  Mechanism  corresponding  to  Dual  Mental 
Organism  furnished  by  Anatomy  and  Histology. —  Historical 
Sketch  of  the  Science  of  Histology.  —  Cells  and  Cytods. —  Uni- 
cellular and  Pluricellular  Organisms.  —  The  Various  Species  of 
Body-Cells  and  their  Functions.  —  The  Body  a  Confederation  of 
Groups  of  Cells.  —  Every  Body-Cell  a  Mind  Organism  endowed 
with  Intelligence  Commensurate  with  its  Function.  — The  Con- 
federated Cells  dominated  by  a  Central  Intelligence.  —  The 
Influence  exercised  by  the  Controlling  Intelligence  a  Mental 
One 179 

CHAPTER   III 

THE  PHYSICAL  MECHANISM  THROUGH  WHICH  MENTAL  HEALING 
IS  EFFECTED  (Continued) 

The  Cerebro-Spinal  and  the  Sympathetic  Nervous  Systems.  —  The 
Former  controls  the  Voluntary  Movements  and  is  dominated  by 
the  Objective  Mind.  —  The  Latter  controls  the  Involuntary 
Movements  and  is  dominated  by  the  Subjective  Mind.  —  The 
Subjective  Mind  can  usurp  the  Functions  of  the  Cerebro-Spinal 
System. — The  Objective  Mind  powerless  to  control  directly  a 
purely  Involuntary  Muscle.  —  A  Nexus  between  the  two  Nervous 
Systems  corresponding  to  that  between  the  two  Minds.  —  The 
Nerve  Connections  between  the  two  Systems  enable  the  Objective 
Mind  to  communicate  its  Therapeutic  Suggestions  to  the  Sub- 
jective.—  The  Pseudopodia  of  Unicellular  Organisms.  —  Pro- 
toplasmic Filaments  the  Means  of  Communication  between 
Body-Cells.  —  This  is  effected  by  Physical  Contact.  —  The  Nerve 
and  Brain  Cells  highly  specialized  for  this  Purpose.  —  Being 
Mind  Organisms,  the  Energy  involved  in  the  Transmission  of 
Sensation  is  a  Mental  One  . 194 


CONTENTS  xvil 

CHAPTER   IV 

THE   MECHANISM   OF   INHIBITION 

PACK 

Analgesia  induced  by  Hypnotism  or  by  Suggestion.  —  If  Sensation 
is  transmitted  by  Means  of  Physical  Contact  of  the  Filaments  of 
the  Nerve  Cells,  it  follows  that  Interruption  of  Contact  will 
inhibit  Sensation.  —  These  Filaments  are  retractile.  — The  Sub- 
jective Mind,  by  causing  their  Retraction,  can  inhibit  Sensation. 
—  The  Phenomenon  of  Analgesia  in  the  Presence  of  Death  or 
Deadly  Peril.  —  Catalepsy.  —  The  Theory  of  Mental  Medicine 
comprehended  in  the  Words  "Stimulation"  and  "Inhibition." 
—  The  Effects  of  Material  Medicines  mainly  limited  to  these 
Two.  —  The  Principle  of  Homoeopathy.  —  Necessity  for  the 
Correlation  of  Psychology  and  Histology  in  the  Study  of  Thera- 
peutics   206 

CHAPTER   V 

INHIBITION  AND   SLEEP,  NATURAL   AND   INDUCED 

The  Various  Hypotheses  advanced  to  account  for  the  Phenomenon 
of  Sleep.  —  The  Power  of  Inhibition  possessed  by  the  Subjective 
Mind  an  Adequate  Explication.  —  The  Powers  of  Stimulation 
and  Inhibition  correlative.  — The  Alternation  of  Work  and  Rest 
a  Law  which  pertains  to  all  the  Cells  of  the  Body.  —  The  Isola- 
tion of  the  Brain  Cells  from  Contact  with  Each  Other  the 
Cause  of  Unconsciousness. — A  Universal  Law  of  Inhibition 
comprehended  in  the  Formula  "Segregation  of  Cells."  —  Natu- 
ral and  Induced  Sleep  identical.  —  Hypnotism  but  a  Concomitant 
of  the  Power  to  induce  Natural  Sleep 224 

CHAPTER  VI 

ANIMAL   MAGNETISM,  HYPNOTISM,   AND    LAYING   ON   OF   HANDS 

The  Immediate  Cause  of  Natural,  Hypnotic,  and  Mesmeric  Sleep 
the  Same.  —  The  Process  and  Theory  of  Mesmerism.  —  Braid's 
Experiments.  —  The  Process  of  Hypnotism.  —  The  Confusion 
in  Terms  and  Methods.  —  Liebault's  Formulation  of  the  Law  of 
Suggestion.  —  Suggestion  regarded  as  a  Universal  Solvent  of 
the  Mysteries  of  Hypnotism  and  Mesmerism.  —  The  Effects  of 
Hypnotism  and  Mesmerism  due  to  Different  Proximate  Causes. 


xvin  CONTENTS 

PACK 

—  Physical  Contact  the  Essential  Feature  which  distinguishes 
Mesmeric  from  Hypnotic  Practice.  —  The  Psycho-Histological 
Theory.  —  Historical  Sketch  of  "  Healing  by  Touch."  —  The 
Effects  of  this  Process  not  accounted  for  by  Suggestion  in  the 
Ordinary  Sense  of  that  Term 234 


CHAPTER  VII 

THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE   BY  ANTS  AND    BEES  BY  MEANS   OF 
PHYSICAL    CONTACT 

The  Psycho-Histological  Theory  of  Mental  Therapeutics.  —  Com- 
munication of  Mental  Impulses  by  Means  of  Physical  Contact  an 
Elementary  Fact  of  Psychology.  —  The  Vital  Units  of  Pluricellu- 
lar  Organisms  habitually  communicate  by  this  Means.  —  Uni- 
cellular Organisms,  grouped  together  in  Colonies,  communicate 
in  the  sameWay.  —  Communication  between  Ants  by  Contact  of 
Antenna;.  —  Hypothetical  "  Langage  Antennal  "  of  Huber.  — 
Antennal  Communion  among  Bees.  —  Inadequacy  of  Tactile- 
Signal  Hypothesis.  —  Thought-Transference  the  Obvious  Expla- 
nation    ...  250 

CHAPTER   VIII 

THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE    BY  MAN   UNDER    CONDITIONS   OF 
PHYSICAL   CONTACT 

The  Distinction  between  Thought-Transference  and  Telepathy.  — 
The  "  Willing  "  Game.  —  The  Muscle-Reading  Hypothesis.  — 
Instances  of  Thought-Transference  which  it  does  not  explain. 
—  Thought-Transference  facilitated  by  Physical  Contact.  —  The 
Spiritistic  "  Circle."  —  Experiments  in  Thought-Transference 
with  and  without  Physical  Contact.  —  The  Nervous  Organism 
of  Man  specially  adapted  for  Thought-Transference,  and  hence 
for  Healing  by  Physical  Contact .  262 

CHAPTER  IX 

CONCLUSIONS THEORETICAL  AND   PRACTICAL 

The  Hypothetical  Magnetic  Fluid.  —  Histionic  Suggestion  com- 
petent to  explain  all  the  Facts  of  Mesmerism.  —  This  Form  of 
Suggestion  the  most  effective  as  a  Therapeutic  Agency.  —  It  may 


CONTENTS  xix 

PAGB 

operate  independently  of  the  Volition  of  the  Patient.  —  The 
Nerve  Terminals  the  Means  provided  by  Nature  for  the  Trans- 
mission of  Histionic  Suggestions. —  The  Spinal  Column  the 
Guide  to  one  Set  of  Terminals,  and  Pain  the  Guide  to  the  other. 
—  This  Process  of  Treatment  available  to  all 274 


THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  PRINCIPLES  INVOLVED 
IN   MENTAL  HEALING 


THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 


THE   PSYCHOLOGICAL  PRINCIPLES   INVOLVED 
IN    MENTAL  HEALING 


CHAPTER    I 
INTRODUCTORY 

Ancient  Superstitions.  —  All  Diseases  referred  to  Bad  Spirits.  —  All 
Healing  of  Disease  credited  to  Good  Spirits.  —  Innumerable  The- 
ories of  Causation  prevalent  among  Primitive  Peoples.  —  Many  of 
them  still  survive  in  Modified  Forms ;  some  of  the  most  grotesque 
being  extremely  popular  in  the  midst  of  the  Highest  Civilization. — 
All  Systems,  Ancient  and  Modern,  have  been  successful  in  healing 
the  Sick.  —  This  Fact  alone  challenges  the  Attention  of  Science.  — 
It  indicates  the  Existence  of  a  Law  pertaining  generically  to  all 
Systems.  —  No  Logical  Connection  between  Theories  of  Causation 
and  the  Results  produced ;  otherwise  all  Systems,  from  Fetichism 
to  the  most  Modern  Modification  of  that  System,  would  be  able  to 
"  demonstrate  "  their  Theories.  —  The  Logic  of  Primitive  Minds 
the  same  in  all  the  Ages.  —  The  Question  of  Mental  Healing  is 
primarily  a  psychological  one  ;  hence  the  Necessity  of  studying  the 
Fundamental  Principles  of  Psychology  as  a  Basis  of  a  Correct 
Theory  of  Causation.  —  Recent  Discovery  of  a  Primary  Intelligence 
below  the  Threshold  of  Normal  Consciousness  enables  us  to  study 
the  Subject  inductively.  —  The  Facts  of  Physiology  and  Histology 
reveal  the  Rationale  of  Mental  Healing.  —  It  is  unnecessary  to 
antagonize  Established  Systems  of  Material  Therapeutics. —  We 
are  indebted  to  Doctors  of  Medicine  for  much  of  the  Knowledge 


4  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL   MEDICINE 

which  enables  us  to  formulate  a  Rational  Theory.  —  The  Correla- 
tion of  all  the  Facts  of  Psychology  and  Physiology  are  necessary  for 
placing  Mental  Therapeutics  on  a  Scientific  Basis.  —  Many  Medical 
Men  employ  the  Methods  of  Suggestive  Therapeutics  in  their  Daily 
Practice.  —  The  Discovery  of  the  Law  of  Suggestion  by  a  Member 
of  the  Medical  Profession  was  the  first  Great  Step  in  the  Direction 
of  a  True  Explication  of  Mental  Therapeutics.  —  The  next  Great 
Step  was  its  Generalization  under  the  Law  of  the  Duality  of  Mind. 
—  The  Correlation  of  all  the  Facts  of  Mental  and  Physical  Science 
is  therefore  essential. 

HISTORY  informs  us  that  in  all  the  ages  man 
has  recognized  the  existence  of  an  intelligent 
Power  capable  of  creating  diseases  in  the  human 
body,  and  of  healing  them  independently  of  material 
remedies  or  appliances.  This  Power,  being  invisible 
and  intangible,  was  very  naturally  referred  to  mental 
or  spiritual  agencies,  good  or  bad,  beneficent  or 
malevolent,  as  the  symptoms  in  each  particular  case 
seemed  to  indicate.  In  the  early  days  "  spirits  of 
health  "  and  "  goblins  damned  "  seem  to  have  peo- 
pled the  circumambient  air  in  vast  numbers  and  in 
about  equal  proportions.  One  host  revisited  "  the 
glimpses  of  the  moon"  with  intents  decidedly  wicked; 
the  other  with  those  that  were  purely  charitable. 
One  brought  blasts  from  hell;  the  other  breathed 
airs  from  heaven.  One  sent  forth  plague  and  pesti- 
lence; the  other  shed  healing  from  its  wings.  For 
untold  ages  these  invisible  agencies,  good  and  bad, 
seem  to  have  been  practically  the  only  ones  held 
responsible  for  the  existence  of  disease,  or  credited 
with  the  power  of  healing  the  sick. 

Naturally,  the  greatest  efforts  of  men  so  beset  by 
the  conflicting  forces  surrounding  them  were  em- 
ployed in  devising  ways  and  means  for  thwarting 


INTRODUCTORY  5 

the  efforts  of  the  evil  spirits  and  for  conciliating 
those  that  were  good.  Hence  the  innumerable  re- 
cipes for  those  purposes  which  history  informs  us 
were  in  common  use  among  our  remote  ancestors. 
A  volume  would  be  required  even  to  catalogue  the 
various  devices  and  formulas  for  invoking  the  aid 
of  the  health-purveying  inhabitants  of  the  spirit 
world,  to  say  nothing  of  the  "  prophylactical  receipts 
of  wholesome  caution  "  against  evil  spirits  in  general 
and  witches  in  particular.  Such  a  volume,  compiled 
from  all  available  sources,  would  be  of  incalculable 
value  to  science;  for  it  would  show  that  not  only 
our  ancestors  —  savage,  semi-civilized,  and  civilized 
—  were  rilled  with  such  superstitions,  but  that  all 
primitive  peoples  have  had,  and  still  have,  the  same 
generic  ideas,  and  that  they  practise  generically  the 
same  methods  of  healing  the  sick.  What  is  of  still 
greater  importance,  it  would  show  that  all  the  facts 
of  spiritual  or  mental  healing  among  primitive  peo- 
ples of  all  the  ages  are  easily  correlated  not  only 
with  each  other,  but  with  many  of  the  methods  now 
in  vogue  in  the  most  highly  civilized  nations.  That 
is  to  say,  many  of  the  modern  theories  of  causation 
are  mere  survivals  of  ancient  superstitions;  and 
some  of  them  differ  from  the  latter  only  in  the  more 
accentuated  and  grotesque  imbecility  of  the  later 
theories  of  causation. 

More  important  still  is  the  fact  that  the  records 
show  that  under  all  "  systems,"  ancient  and  modern, 
many  marvellous  cures  have  been  effected,  some  of 
them  seemingly  miraculous.  This  fact,  to  the  induc- 
tive scientist,  is  pregnant  with  significance;  for  it  is 
demonstrative  that  the  whole  subject-matter  is  under 


6  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

the  dominion  of  some  natural  law.  The  scientist 
reasons  thus:  Here  is  a  vast  congeries  of  phe- 
nomena to  be  accounted  for.  They  have  been  pro- 
duced in  every  age  and  in  every  tribe  and  nation  in 
the  world,  civilized  and  savage.  Some  of  the  phe- 
nomena, it  is  true,  may  be  accounted  for  on  the 
score  of  mal-observation ;  some  may  be  attributed 
to  fraud  and  legerdemain,  and  much  to  defective 
memory  or  intentional  falsehood.  But  after  due 
allowance  is  made  for  these  and  other  minor  sources 
of  error,  the  great  bulk  of  the  phenomena  remains 
to  challenge  the  attention  of  the  scientist.  It  is  true 
that  science  in  years  gone  by  has  not  deigned  to 
meddle  with  the  subject,  choosing  to  relegate  all  the 
alleged  phenomena  indiscriminately  to  the  domain  of 
superstition  and  imposture.  During  the  last  decade, 
however,  it  has  become  evident  to  the  most  skeptical 
that  cures  of  disease  are  being  effected,  in  the  midst 
of  the  highest  civilization,  by  means  obviously  iden- 
tical with  those  employed  in  the  darkest  ages  of 
superstition.  That  is  to  say,  the  results  are  identi- 
cal; and  it  is  axiomatic  that,  in  any  series  of  cog- 
nate phenomena,  identical  results  presuppose  identical 
or  cognate  causes.  Hence  it  is  that  when,  as  in  men- 
tal healing,  uniform  results  are  reported  from  widely 
separated  localities,  from  all  races  and  conditions  of 
mankind  during  all  the  ages,  ancient  and  modern, 
the  true  scientist  knows  that  there  must  be  a  basis 
of  truth  underlying  the  whole  subject,  and  that  all 
the  phenomena  are  referable  to  some  one  generic 
cause.  Nor  does  the  multiplicity  of  theories  of 
causation  held  by  the  various  tribes  of  men,  or  sects 
of  mental  healers,  militate  in  the  least  against  the 


INTRODUCTORY  7 

student's  convictions;    for  if  he  has  acquired  the 
most   superficial  acquaintance   with   the   elementary 
principles  of  logic,  he  is  aware  that  there  is  no  neces 
sary  connection  between  theories  of  causation  an 
the  results  produced  by  those  who  hold  them.     In 
other  words,  the  fact  of  healing  the  sick  by  any 
method  whatever  does  not  demonstrate  the  correct 
ness  of  the  theory  of  causation  which  happens  to 
entertained  by  the  healer  in  any  given  case. 

This  is  a  self-evident  proposition;  and  to  the 
average  reader  it  will  seem  to  be  a  work  of  super- 
erogation to  state  it  formally.  But  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  there  are  vast  numbers  of  mental 
healers,  in  this  and  other  highly  civilized  countries, 
whose  theories  of  causation  are  more  fantastic,  not 
to  say  idiotic,  than  those  of  any  savage  tribe  of 
which  history  informs  us,  and  that  they  firmly  and 
fervently  believe  and  proclaim  that  their  theories 
are  demonstrated  to  be  true  by  the  fact  that  they 
heal  the  sick.  In  fact,  so  insistent  are  they  upon 
this  point  that  they  habitually  employ  the  word 
"  demonstrate,"  or  some  of  its  derivatives,  as  a  syno- 
nym for  the  verb  "  to  heal."  Every  act  of  healing, 
in  other  words,  is  a  complete  demonstration  of  the 
truth  of  the  hypothesis  which  the  healer  happens  to 
entertain. 

It  is,  perhaps,  superfluous  to  add  that  if  this  were 
true  of  one  system  of  mental  healing  it  would  be 
true  of  all.  Hence  the  North  American  Indian, 
whose  theory  of  disease  is  that  it  is  caused  by  the 
infernal  machinations  of  evil  spirits,  and  whose 
therapeutic  agencies  consist  in  frightening  away 
said  evil  spirits  by  means  of  hideous  noises  and  a 


8  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

diabolical  "  make  up,"  has  the  same  logical  right  to 
claim  that  successful  healing  by  his  system  is  demon- 
strative of  the  correctness  of  his  theory  of  disease 
as  well  as  of  the  scientific  value  of  his  methods  of 
healing.  What  is  true  of  the  North  American  In- 
dian's hypothesis  is  true  of  all  theories  of  disease 
and  all  therapeutic  agencies,  in  Christian  or  in 
heathen  lands;  for,  as  before  remarked,  the  one 
salient  fact  that  correlates  all  systems  of  mental 
medicine  is  that  they  all  heal  the  sick. 

It  is  this  one  fact  that  challenges  the  attention  of 
science.  It  appeals  to  the  anthropologist,  because 
"the  beliefs  of  mankind,  whether  true  or  false,  con- 
important  branch  of  his  curriculum  of 
studies.  It  is  of  infinite  interest  and  importance  to 
the  therapeutist,  because  it  is  demonstrative  that  in 
some  way  the  state  of  the  mind  of  the  patient  is 
an  important  factor  in  the  diagnosis  and  treatment 
of  disease.  But  its  most  direct  and  imperative  ap- 
peal is  to  the  psychologist;  for  it  is  primarily  a 
purely  psychological  question,  and  upon  the  student 
of  that  science  devolves  the  task  of  discovering  the 
fundamental  principles  underlying  the  mental  force 
behind  the  phenomena.  When  that  is  accomplished, 
it  will  be  next  in  order  to  invoke  the  aid  of  physi- 
ology, and  especially  of  microscopic  anatomy,  or 
histology,  to  the  end  that  we  may  learn  something 
of  the  machinery  through  which  this  potent  energy 
performs  its  work. 

It  is  obvious  that  if  even  the  fundamentals  of  this 
knowledge  can  be  successfully  acquired,  we  may 
then  know,  proximately  at  least,  something  of  the 
modus  operandi  by  which  the  mind  acts  upon  the 


INTRODUCTORY  9 

body  in  health  and  in  the  cure  of  disease.  It  fol- 
lows that  such  knowledge  will  enable  us  to  direct 
the  healing  energy  more  intelligently,  and  presum- 
ably more  effectively.  Not  that  we  can  ever  learn 
just  how  the  mind  performs  its  functions  as  a  thera- 
peutic agent.  We  do  not  even  know  how  it  causes 
the  simplest  movement  of  the  limbs,  although  we 
may  be  conscious  of  imparting  the  primary  mental 
stimulus  necessary  to  produce  that  result  in  the  vol- 
untary muscles.  Science  has  taught  us  something 
of  the  machinery  through  which  the  mind  operates 
to  produce  consciously  a  voluntary  movement  of  the 
body.  We  know  by  conscious  experience  that  the 
mind  is  the  motive  power;  and  we  have  taken  a 
few  primary  lessons  in  the  art  of  directing  and 
controlling  that  power  and  making  it  useful.  But 
this  is  all  that  we  really  know  of  that  conscious 
intelligence  which,  nevertheless,  has  elevated  man- 
kind from  savagery  to  civilization. 

How  little  man  knows  of  his  own  mental  powers 
and  limitations  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  it  is  only 
within  the  last  decade  that  he  has  become  aware  of 
the  existence,  within  himself  and  below  the  thresh- 
old of  his  normal  consciousness,  of  a  primary *  in- 
telligence that  is  at  once  endowed  with  wonderful 
powers  and  circumscribed  by  equally  wonderful  limi- 
tations. It  is  well  within  the  bounds  of  truth  to  say 
that  it  is  to  this  discovery  that  the  world  is  indebted 
for  all  the  knowledge  that  it  possesses  of  the  real 

1  Some  authors  denominate  this  intelligence  "the  secondary  self," 
but  the  facts  of  organic  evolution  show  conclusively  that  it  is  the 
primary  intelligence  of  the  organic  world.  See  "The  Divine  Pedigree 
of  Man." 


10  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

science  of  mental  therapeutics;  for  it  is  to  this  pri- 
mary intelligence  that  science  has  traced  the  source 
of  the  mental  power  that  heals ;  and  it  is  to  its  limi- 
tations that  is  due  all  that  is  mysterious  in  its  phe- 
nomenal manifestations,  not  only  in  the  domain  of 
mental  therapeutics,  but  in  all  other  classes  of  psy- 
chical phenomena. 

In  attempting-  an  analysis  of  this  wonderful  sub- 
jective intelligence  I  shall  confine  myself  to  its  aspects 
as  a  therapeutic  agent,  and  not  obtrude  any  theories 
or  speculations  as  to  its  ultimate  origin  1  or  its  final 
destiny.2  I  shall  confine  myself  exclusively  to  the 
demonstrable  facts  of  experimental  psychology  for 
my  proofs  of  the  existence  of  a  subjective  intelli- 
gence, to  the  well-authenticated  experiences  of  man- 
kind for  proofs  of  its  potency  as  a  healing  agent, 
and  to  the  current  standard  literature  of  physiology 
and  histology  to  show  the  rationale  of  the  mental 
processes  by  which  every  fibre  of  the  body  is  reached, 
and  its  conditions  controlled.  I  do  not  expect  to  say 
the  last  word  that  can  be  said  of  the  science  of  men- 
tal therapeutics;  but  my  primary  object  will  be  ac- 
complished if  I  can  point  out  the  lines  of  study  and 
investigation  which  may  lead  to  an  intelligent  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  of  mental  control  over  the  body 
in  health  and  disease.  If  in  addition  to  that  I  can 
succeed  in  discovering  the  fundamental  psycholog- 
ical law  pertaining  to  the  control  of  the  healing 
power  resident  in  every  man's  mental  organism, 
and  in  pointing  out  the  physical  mechanism  through 
which  that  power  is  exerted,  I  may  hope  to  be  able 

1    See  "The  Divine  Pedigree  of  Man." 
2  See  "A  Scientific  Demonstration  of  the  Future  Life." 


•   INTRODUCTORY    -  II 

to  indicate  the  most  effective  methods  of  practising 
the  healing  art  without  the  use  of  material  remedies. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  discussion  of  the  main 
subject,  however,  I  desire  to  say  a  word  in  regard  to 
doctors  of  medicine. 

I  have  no  quarrel  with  the  medical  profession,  nor 
can  I  join  in  the  indiscriminate  clamor  against  mate- 
rial remedies  for  the  cure  of  disease.  I  cannot  for- 
get that  doctors  of  medicine  were  the  first  to  discover 
the  fundamental  facts  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  the 
science  of  mental  medicine.  Thus,  Dr.  Hack  Tuke's 
great  work *  contains  a  voluminous  record  of  the 
observations  of  cases  by  medical  men,  of  both  ancient 
and  modern  times,  demonstrating  the  control  of  the 
mind  over  the  body  in  health  and  disease.  Indeed 
the  literature  of  medicine,  within  the  memory  of 
men  now  living,  was  full  of  illustrations  of  that  im- 
portant fact;  and  medical  students  were  instructed 
by  their  professors  in  its  practical  application  at  the 
bedside.  A  cheerful,  hopeful,  and,  above  all,  a  con- 
fident demeanor  was  held  to  be  only  second  in  im- 
portance to  the  material  remedies  prescribed;  and, 
to  give  the  profession  due  credit,  the  effect  of  that 
instruction  still  survives,  and  is  visibly  manifested 
in  the  wise  and  preternaturally  able  expression  of 
countenance  which  every  physician  knows  so  well 
how  to  assume  when  feeling  the  pulse,  examining 
the  tongue,  and  writing  the  prescription.  The  Law 
of  Suggestion  had  not  been  formulated  when  such 
instructions  became  a  part  of  the  college  curriculum, 
but  its  practical  value  was  thus  recognized  by  the 

1  The  Influence  of  Mind  upon  the  Body  (Henry  C.  Lea's  Son  & 
Co.,  Philadelphia). 


12  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

medical  profession  many  generations  before  Braid 
or  JLiebault  saw  the  light;  and  the  medical  doctor 
who  first  prescribed  a  placebo,1  under  the  guise  of 
a  specific,  and  noted  its  wonderful  curative  powers, 
took  the  first  great  step  in  demonstrating  the  thera- 
peutic value  of  a  "  larvated "  (Pitzer)  suggestion. 
It  may  be  noted,  in  passing,  that  one  of  the  most 
hopeful  indications  of  advancement  in  medical  science 
consists  in  the  fact  that  the  profession  now  very  gen- 
erally recognize  the  placebo  as  indicated  when  diag- 
nosis fails.  Manufacturing  pharmacists  consequently 
derive  a  large  income  from  the  sale  of  the  ready- 
made  placebo.  That  many  fatal  mistakes  have  been 
avoided  by  its  employment,  and  many  cures  effected, 
goes  without  saying. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  to  the  medical  profession 
the  world  is  indebted  for  two  discoveries,  —  first, 
that  the  mind  controls  the  bodily  functions;  second, 
that  the  mind  can  be  controlled  by  suggestion.  That 
physicians  did  not  formulate  the  law,  and  builded 
better  than  they  knew,  does  not  detract  from  their 
merits  as  original  discoverers.  Columbus  died  in  ig- 
norance of  the  fact  that  he  had  discovered  America. 

Nor  can  I  follow  the  extremists  in  holding  that 
all  material  remedies,  like  the  placebo,  owe  their 
efficacy  wholly  to  suggestion.  I  recognize  the  fact 
—  which  the  medical  profession  has  taught  us  — 
that  the  human  body  is  made  up  of  an  aggregation, 
or  confederation,  of  cells;  that  each  cell  is  an  indi- 
vidual entity,  a  living  creature,  and  that,  as  such,  it 
performs  all  the  functions  of  animal  life,  including 
those  of  nutrition,  digestion,  and  excretion.  Each 

1  Commonly  called  "  bread  pills." 


INTRODUCTORY  13 

cell,  therefore,  requires  its  appropriate  food  to  enable 
it  to  perform  its  special  functions.  This  food  is,  of 
course,  supplied  from  the  material  taken  into  the 
stomach;  and  the  blood-cells  perform  the  double 
duty  of  conveying  the  food  to  each  individual  cell, 
and  of  removing  the  waste  material  excreted  (meta- 
bolism). It  follows  that  the  useful  food-material  of 
all  that  is  taken  into  the  stomach,  be  it  in  ordinary 
food  or  in  medicine,  is  carried  to  its  appropriate 
groups  of  cells.  That  some  medicines  contain  nutri- 
tive material  adapted  to  the  needs  of  special  groups 
of  cells  cannot  be  seriously  doubted.  Nor  can  it  be 
doubted  that  if  the  medical  profession  could  know 
just  what  material  is  adapted  to  the  necessities  of 
each  group  of  cells,  medicine  would  assume  the  dig- 
nity of  an  inductive  science.  They  have  already  laid 
the  foundation  for  the  study  of  medicine  on  those 
lines  by  their  minute  researches  in  the  science  of  his- 
tology, or  microscopic  anatomy,  which  is  the  branch 
of  biology  that  treats  of  the  cell  life  and  the  structure 
of  the  tissues  of  organized  bodies.  They  have  also 
laid  a  broad  foundation  for  the  study  of  the  true 
science  of  mental  medicine,  by  revealing  the  ma- 
chinery through  which  suggestion  does  its  thera- 
peutic work.  It  enables  us  not  only  to  correlate  all 
systems  of  mental  healing,  ancient  and  modern,  but 
to  harmonize  the  facts  of  suggestive  therapeutics 
with  the  accepted  principles  of  modern  physiological 
science  as  laid  down  by  the  ablest  medical  authorities. 
It  must  also  be  remembered  to  the  credit  of  the 
medical  profession  that  one  of  its  members  formu- 
lated the  Law  of  Suggestion,  and  thus  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  the  science  of  mental  healing.  It  is  true 


14  THE  LA  W  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

that  it  was  formulated  with  special  reference  to  hyp- 
notism; but  at  that  time  hypnotism  was  the  only 
phase  of  psychic  phenomena  under  scientific  discus- 
sion. Later  on,  a  broader  generalization  became 
necessary  in  connection  with  the  theory  of  the  dual 
mind,  and  the  law  was  then  found  to  pertain  exclu- 
sively to  the  subjective  mind,  and  to  dominate  that 
mysterious  mental  force  under  all  its  states  and  con- 
ditions.1 Nevertheless,  the  discovery  of  the  Law  of 
Suggestion  in  its  relations  to  hypnotism  was  the 
first  great  step  in  the  direction  of  a  true  explication, 
not  only  of  mental  therapeutics,  but  of  all  psychic 
phenomena. 

It  is  true  that  the  attitude  of  the  medical  profes- 
sion toward  all  forms  and  theories  of  mental  thera- 
peutics has  always  been  one  of  extreme  conservatism, 
often  savoring  of  unreasoning  prejudice;  but  on  the 
whole  its  influence  has  been  salutary.  If  its  denun- 
ciations have  been  bitter,  it  was  because  they  have 
been  directed  chiefly  against  charlatanism  and  un- 
scientific theories  of  causation;  but,  as  I  shall  at- 
tempt to  show,  its  inductions  and  discoveries  have 
furnished  the  basis  of  a  scientific  system  of  mental 
therapeutics. 

It  will  now  be  seen  that  I  am  not  about  to  wage 
a  warfare  against  the  medical  profession,  nor  upon 
drugs  and  medicines,  nor  upon  any  of  the  so-called 
"  systems  "  of  mental  therapeutics,  much  less  upon 
the  well-ascertained  facts  of  physiological  science.  It 
is  a  truism  of  science  that,  in  the  investigation  of  any 
subject,  no  fact  can  safely  be  ignored  that  pertains, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  the  subject-matter;  for  no 

1  See  "  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena." 


INTROD  UCTOR  Y  1 5 

fact  in  nature  is  inconsistent  with  any  other  fact.  If, 
therefore,  it  is  true  that  the  mind  controls  the  bodily 
functions  in  health  and  disease,  the  facts  of  physio- 
logical science  will  at  least  harmonize  with  the  propo- 
sition, and  perchance  reveal  approximately  something 
of  the  methods  and  machinery  by  which  this  control 
is  effected.  In  other  words,  psychology  and  physi- 
ology necessarily  touch  upon  each  other  somewhere; 
and  it  is  the  object  of  this  book  to  suggest  tentatively 
a  line  of  study  by  which  the  facts  of  both  sciences, 
so  far  as  they  relate  to  mental  therapeutics,  may  be 
correlated  and  reduced  to  something  like  scientific 
coherency.  An  exhaustive  treatise  is,  of  course,  im- 
possible within  the  limits  prescribed;  but  if  I  can 
induce  abler  men  to  test  the  value  of  my  suggestions, 
I  am  not  without  hope  that  a  truly  scientific  system 
of  psycho-therapeutics  may  eventually  be  evolved 
which  will  harmonize  all  the  facts  of  human  experi- 
ence that  pertain  to  the  subject-matter. 

I  shall  first  treat  of  the  psychological  aspects  of  the 
question ;  secondly,  of  the  psycho-physiological ;  and, 
thirdly,  of  the  methods  of  practice  which  suggest 
themselves  in  view  of  all  the  facts  developed. 


CHAPTER    II 
FIRST  PRINCIPLES 

Mental  Healing  is  not  a  Religion.  —  The  Example  of  Jesus  is  conclu- 
sive on  that  Point.  —  Nothing  Supernatural  in  Mental  Medicine.  — 
The  Power  that  Heals  resides  within  the  Patient.  —  This  was  the 
Doctrine  taught  by  Jesus  and  epitomized  in  the  Words  "  Thy  Faith 
hath  made  Thee  whole."  —  The  Word  "  Faith,"  as  he  employed  it, 
means  not  only  "Belief"  or  "Confidence,"  but  includes  all  the 
Spiritual  Energies  of  the  Human  Soul.  —  It  is  not  only  prerequisite 
to  Success  in  Mental  Healing,  but  is  a  Dynamic  Energy,  besides. 

—  Modern  Science  has  succeeded  only  in  demonstrating  the  Scien- 
tific Accuracy  of  the  Master's  Knowledge  of  Mental  Therapeutics. 

—  The  Whole  Art  of  Mental  Healing  consists  in  knowing  how  to 
induce  the  Condition  of  Faith  in  the  Patient.  —  The  Fundamental 
Psychological  Principles  involved.  —  Suggestion  a  Universal  Law 
of  the  Subjective  Mind.  —  Limitations   of   Subjective  Powers  of 
Reasoning.  —  False   and   True   Suggestions.  —  Potency   of  Auto- 
Suggestions.  —  Moral   Principles    constitute   Auto-Suggestions.  — 
Resistance  to  False  Suggestions.  —  Effectiveness  of  Suggestion  not 
dependent  upon  the  Hypnotic  Condition.  —  Passivity  of  the  Mind 
the  Equivalent  of  Hypnosis  for  Therapeutic  Purposes.  —  Sugges- 
tions based  upon  Scientific  Truth  are  most  effective.  —  The  Third 
Fundamental  Psychological  Principle. 

BEFORE  attempting  to  state  what  mental  heal- 
ing is,  it  may  be  well  to  have  a  clear  under- 
standing of  what  it  is  not.  First,  then,  it  is  not  a 
religion.  There  is  no  more  religion  in  healing  the 
sick  by  mental  processes  than  there  is  in  healing  them 
by  pills  or  clysters.  Many  good  people  think  other- 
wise, and  cite  the  example  of  the  Master.  But  there 
is  no  evidence  that  he  regarded  the  act  of  healing  as 


FIRST  PRINCIPLES  I/ 

a  religious  rite,  except  in  so  far  as  all  benevolent  acts 
belong  to  that  scheme  of  universal  altruism  which 
was  the  essence  of  his  religion.  But  he  exacted  no 
precedent  conditions  of  religious  belief  from  the  bene- 
ficiaries of  his  power ;  he  prescribed  for  them  no  acts 
of  religious  worship,  nor  did  he  himself  perform  any  ' 
in  connection  with  the  exercise  of  his  healing  power. 
The  only  thing  that  savored  of  religion,  therefore, 
was  in  that  which  he  refrained  from  doing,  namely : 
he  accepted  no  fees  for  his  services,  nor  did  he  charge 
his  apostles  for  "  lessons." 

Secondly,  there  is  nothing  supernatural  or  super- 
mundane in  the  methods  or  agencies  employed  in 
healing  the  sick  by  mental  processes ;  and  thirdly,  no 
power  or  agency,  mundane  or  supermundane,  ex- 
traneous to  the  patient  himself,  has  any  part  or  lot  [/ \ 
in  the  process  of  mental  healing.  For  proof  of  these 
two  propositions  we  may  again  refer  to  the  authority 
of  the  Master.  And  this  brings  us  to  the  immedi- 
ate consideration  of  the  question  what  mental  heal- 
ing is. 

Those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history  and 
teachings  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  as  set  forth  in  the 
New  Testament,  will  recall  the  facts  that  he  never 
claimed  any  credit  for  healing  the  sick;  nor  did  he 
arrogate  to  himself  the  possession  of  any  personal 
power  to  heal  disease;  much  less  did  he  ascribe  the 
power  to  any  other  agency,  human  or  divine,  extra- 
neous to  the  patient  himself.  In  truth,  the  reticence 
of  Jesus  in  regard  to  his  attributes  and  powers  was 
one  of  his  most  marked  characteristics.  But  more 
remarkable  still  was  the  fact  that  what  he  did  say 
was  always  pregnant  with  veritable  scientific  signifi- 


1 8          THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

cance.  No  better  illustration  of  this  can  be  imag- 
ined than  his  constantly  reiterated  statement  with 
regard  to  the  real  source  of  the  healing  power  mani- 
fested in  his  patients.  The  words  "  Thy  faith  hath 
made  thee  whole "  constitute  a  scientifically  exact 
statement  of  the  fundamental  fact,  of  mental  thera- 
peutics. Their  obvious  meaning  is,  first,  that  the 
power  which  effects  the  healing  is  resident  within  the 
patient,  and  not  in  any  extraneous  force  or  agency. 
This  is  the  primary  meaning  of  the  phrase,  and  no 
amount  of  sophistry  can  weaken  its  force  or  signifi- 
cance. Secondly,  it  means  that  this  force  or  energy 
resident  within  the  patient  consists  of,  or  is  due  to,  a 
certain  definite  mental  condition  or  attitude  of  mind 
with  reference  to  the  work  to  be  done.  It  may  be 
here  remarked  that  the  English  word  "  faith  "  very 
inadequately  describes  the  energy  or  force  in  ques- 
tion, as  Jesus  apparently  understood  it.  That  is  to 
say,  no  definition  of  the  word  is  found  in  any  dic- 
tionary that  conveys  the  slightest  notion  of  that 
dynamic  energy  which  enabled  the  leper  to  throw 
off  his  disease  instantaneously,  or  the  lame  man  to 
take  up  his  bed  and  walk.  Every  dictionary  defini- 
tion embraces  the  implication  of  some  form  or  de- 
gree of  belief  as  its  determinative  feature.  But  the 
faith  which  Jesus  proclaimed  as  the  one  prepotent 
agency  in  the  healing  of  disease,  —  the  faith  which 
sustained  Peter  in  his  walk  upon  the  water  until  he 
momentarily  lost  it,  the  dynamic  potentialities  of 
which  could  only  be  adequately  prefigured  as  being 
equal  to  the  removal  of  mountains,  —  such  a  faith 
is  necessarily  far  more  than  the  word  "  belief  "  or 
"  confidence "  would  imply.  It  includes  both,  as 


FIRST  PRINCIPLES  ig 

modern  experiments  amply  demonstrate;  but  it  must 
also  include  all  the  spiritual  energies  of  the  human 
soul.  To  say  the  least,  it  must  be  the  mental  condi- 
tion precedent  to  enable  the  soul  to  exercise  any  of 
its  powers. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  sufficient  for  present  pur- 
poses to  know  that  faith,  is  the  essential  mental  con- 
dition prerequisite  to  success  in  healing  the  sick  by 
any  process  of  mental  healing;  and  when  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  proclaimed  that  pregnant  fact,  he  antici- 
pated the  inductions  of  modern  science  by  nineteen 
hundred  years.  How  he  came  into  possession  of 
such  an  exact  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  law  of 
mental  healing,  is  not  a  pertinent  subject  of  discus- 
sion in  this  connection.  It  is  sufficient  to  note  the 
fact  that  he  possessed  that  knowledge.  Science  is 
concerned  only  with  the  question  of  verification. 
That  it  has  been  amply  verified  by  scientific  experi- 
mentation within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  is  a 
matter  of  common  knowledge  among  students  of 
experimental  psychology.  The  nature  of  the  ex- 
periments and  their  evidential  value  will  be  shown 
hereinafter.  In  the  meantime  we  must  assume  pro- 
visionally that  a  certain  definite  attitude  of  mind  on 
the  part  of  the  patient  is  essential  to  success  in  men- 
tal healing,  and  that  that  attitude  of  mind  is  best 
defined  by  the  word  "  faith."  It  is  also  in  evidence 
that,  when  faith  is  perfect,  methods  of  healing 
of  comparatively  little  importance.  That  is  to  saj 
methods  may  vary  within  very  wide  limits  without 
affecting  the  result,  provided  each  patient  is  inspirec 
"by  the  requisite  confidence  in  the  particular  methc 
employed  in  his  case.  Hence  the  frequent  successes 


20  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL   MEDICINE 

attending  each  of  the  innumerable  methods  of  men- 
tal healing  that  have  prevailed  in  all  the  ages  of 
mankind. 

We  have  now  definitely  ascertained  the  one  funda- 
mental fact  that  correlates  all  forms,  methods,  and 
systems  of  mental  healing.  That  is,  we  know  the 
mental  condition  that  must  be  induced  in  all  cases, 
and  under  all  systems,  before  mental  healing  be- 
comes possible.  We  know  that  even  the  Master 
could  not  dispense  with  those  conditions;  for,  we 
are  told,  he  could  not  do  many  wonderful  works 
among  the  people  of  his  own  village  "  because  of 
their  unbelief." 

It  follows  that  the  essential  thing  for  the  healer 
to  know  is  how  to  induce  that  condition  in  his  pa- 
tients. Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  the  whole  art  of 
mental  healing  consists  in  knowing  how  best  to  con- 
trol the  patient's  mind  in  that  direction.  Of  course 
there  are  as  many  ways  of  doing  it  as  there  are 
mental  healers;  and  they  are  all  more  or  less  effec- 
tive, as  I  have  already  stated. 

This  is  not,  however,  the  place  to  discuss  the  vari- 
ous methods  in  vogue.  My  present  purpose  is  to 
point  out  the  underlying  psychological  principles  in- 
volved in  all  methods,  and  incidentally  to  show  that 
iwhen  those  principles  are  once  comprehended,  the 
dlaw  of  mental  medicine  will  be  found  to  be,  like  all 
\of  nature's  laws,  simple  to  the  last  degree,  and  far 
removed  from  the  reaTrnsT  of  mysticism  and  super- 
stition. That,  for  instance,  which  is  of  primary 
importance,  namely,  the  induction  of  the  essential 
condition  of  faith  in  the  mind  of  the  patient,  will  be 
found  to  be  surprisingly  easy  of  accomplishment. 


FIRST  PRINCIPLES  21 

At  the  outset  I  owe  an  apology  to  many  of  my 
readers  for  that  I  shall  be  compelled,  in  this  chap- 
ter, to  repeat  the  substance  of  much  that  has  been 
already  set  forth  more  at  length  in  my  former 
works.1  This  becomes  necessary  for  the  reason  that 
the  arguments  in  this  book  will  be  based  upon  the 
working  hypothesis  formulated  in  my  first  work; 
and  although  that  hypothesis  is  now  very  generally 
accepted  by  scientists,  it  will  doubtless  be  new  to 
many  lay  readers  of  this  treatise.  In  order,  there- 
fore, to  make  the  argument  comprehensible  by  all, 
its  steps  must  be  taken  in  orderly  sequence,  begin- 
ning with  the  fundamental  psychological  principles 
involved. 

These  may  be  stated  in  two  propositions,  namely : — 

i.  Man  is  endowed  with  a  dual  mind,  or  two  states 
of  consciousness.  For  convenience  of  treatment,  and 
to  make  distinctions  clear  and  readily  comprehen- 
sible, I  prefer  to  assume  that  man  is  endowed  with 
two  minds.  As  a  working  hypothesis,  I  am  logically 
justified  in  this  assumption,  for  the  reason  that  every- 
thing happens  just  as  though  it  were  true.  This  fact 
is  easily  demonstrable  by  the  processes  of  experi- 
mental psychology,  and  it  is  now  very  generally  rec- 
ognized by  all  students  of  psychic  science. 

I  have  chosen  to  designate  one  of  the  two  minds 
as  the  Objective  Mind  and  the  other  as  the  Subjec- 
tive Mind,  and  they  will  be  so  differentiated  through- 
out this  treatise.  Others  have  adopted  other  terms 
of  differentiation,  such  as  the  "  conscious  "  and  the 

1  The  fundamental  psychological  principles  relating  to  mental  heal- 
ing, as  well  as  to  all  other  psychic  phenomena,  have  been  discussed 
at  length  in  the  author's  work  entitled  "  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phe- 
nomena" (A.  C.  McClurg  &  Co.). 


22  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

"  unconscious,"  the  "  conscious  "  and  the  "  subcon- 
scious," minds,  each  of  which  is  an  obvious  mis- 
nomer. The  savants  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research  generally  designate  the  two  states  of  con- 
sciousness as  the  "  supraliminal  "  and  the  "  sublimi- 
nal," after  the  old  psychologists.  I  have  adopted  the 
terms  "  objective  "  and  "  subjective  "  for  the  simple 
reason  that  the  objective  mind  is  the  mind  of  ordi- 
nary waking  consciousness,  which  takes  cognizance 
of  the  objective  world  by  means  of  the  five  objective 
senses;  whereas  the  subjective  mind  is  that  intelli- 
gence which  manifests  itself  in  all  subjective  states 
and  conditions,  as  in  hypnotism,  somnambulism, 
trance,  dreams,  etc.,  when  the  objective  senses  are 
asleep  or  are  otherwise  wholly  or  partially  inhibited. 
2.  The  second  proposition  is  that  the  subjective 
mind  is  constantly  amenable  to  control  by  the  power 
of  suggestion.  The  term  "suggestion,"  as  defined  by 
hypnotists,  signifies  "  the  insinuation  of  a  belief  or 
impulse  into  the  mind  of  a  subject  by  any  means,  as 
by  words  or  gestures,  usually  by  emphatic  declara- 
tion "  (Century  Dictionary).  This  definition  is  cor- 
rect as  far  as  it  goes,  but  it  is  far  from  indicating 
the  full  scope  and  significance  of  the  law  of  sugges- 
tion. It  is  not,  as  is  indicated  by  the  above  defini- 
tion, restricted  to  hypnotized  subjects,  nor  to  any 
other  mental  state  or  condition,  normal  or  abnormal. 
It  is  a  universal  law  of  the  subjective  mind.  The 
supposition  that  it  is  restricted  to  hypnotized  sub- 
jects arose  from  the  fact  that  its  discoverers  were 
studying  the  phenomena  of  hypnotism  exclusively, 
and  hence  had  no  data  for  a  broader  generalization. 
It  was,  nevertheless,  an  immense  stride  in  advance, 


FIRST  PRINCIPLES  23 

for  it  threw  a  flood  of  light  upon  much  that  was 
mysterious  in  the  phenomena  of  hypnotism.  Its 
chief  value,  however,  consisted  in  that  it  paved  the 
way  for  the  broader  discovery  that  it  is  a  universal 
law  of  the  subjective  mind.  The  latter  discovery 
was  the  inevitable  consequence  of  the  formulation  of 
the  doctrine  of  mental  duality;  for,  it  was  reasoned, 
if  man  is  endowed  with  two  minds,  there  must  neces- 
sarily be  some  clear  line  of  differentiation  between 
them,  both  as  to  their  powers  and  their  limitations. 
It  was  at  length  seen  that  suggestion  and  its  corol- 
laries furnished  the  clue  to  the  situation.  Thus,  one 
of  the  corollaries  of  the  law  of  suggestion  is  that  the 
subjective  mind  is  incapable  of  inductive  reasoning; 
that  is  to  say,  it  is  incapable  of  instituting  and  con- 
ducting independently  a  line  of  research,  by  col- 
lecting facts,  classifying  them,  and  estimating  their 
relative  evidential  values.  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
compelled,  by  the  primary  law  of  its  being,  to  accept 
its  premises  from  extraneous  sources;  that  is  to 
say,  whatever  suggestions  are  imparted  to  it  consti- 
tute the  premises  from  which  it  reasons.  It  follows 
that  its  method  of  reasoning  is  purely  deductive; 
and  it  is  here  that  one  of  its  marvellous  powers  is 
made  manifest,  for  its  power  of  correct  deduction 
is  well-nigh  perfect.  And  this  is  true  whether  the 
premise  is  true  or  false.  That  is  to  say,  its  deduc- 
tions from  a  false  premise  are  as  logically  correct  as 
from  a  true  one ;  and,  moreover,  false  and  true  sug- 
gestions are  alike  carried  into  active  effect  wherever 
it  is  possible.  Thus,  if  it  is  suggested  to  a  hypno- 
tized subject  that  he  is  a  dog,  he  will  instantaneously 
assume  the  attitude  and  perform  the  acts  of  a  dog, 


24          THE  LA  W  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

so  far  as  it  is  physically  possible  to  do  so,  firmly  be- 
lieving himself  to  be  a  dog.  In  a  word,  any  char- 
acter suggested,  be  it  a  fool  or  a  philosopher,  an 
angel  or  a  devil,  an  orator  or  an  auctioneer,  will  be 
personated  with  marvellous  fidelity  to  the  original, 
just  so  far  as  the  subject's  knowledge  of  the  original 
extends.  The  wonderful  histrionic  ability  displayed 
by  hypnotized  subjects  in  personating  suggested  char- 
acters has  often  been  remarked.  But  it  is  not  V  act- 
ing a  part "  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word.  It 
is  much  more  than  acting,  for  the  subject  believes 
himself  to  be  the  actual  personality  suggested.  It  is 
not,  therefore,  a  question  of  histrionic  talent,  in  the 
ordinary  sense;  for  subjects  who  are  entirely  desti- 
tute of  that  ability  will  personate  to  perfection  any 
suggested  character  with  which  they  are  familiar. 
It  is  a  common  observation  that  excellence  in  the 
histrionic  art  is  proportioned  in  each  case  to  the 
actor's  ability  to  forget  his  own  personality  and  to 
identify  himself  with  that  of  the  character  which  he 
seeks  to  portray.  It  is,  therefore,  obvious  that  the 
whole  secret  of  the  so-called  histrionic  ability  of  the 
hypnotic  subject  is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  his 
own  personality  is  completely  submerged  under  the 
influence  of  suggestion.  His  identification  with  the 
suggested  personality  is  also  complete,  for  he  be- 
lieves himself  to  be  the  actual  person  suggested. 
The  essential  prerequisite  mental  conditions  of  good 
acting  are,  therefore,  present  in  perfection.  It  fol- 
lows that  in  proportion  to  the  subject's  knowledge 
and  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  salient  character- 
istics of  the  suggested  personality,  will  the  rendition 
approach  perfection. 


FIRST  PRINCIPLES  2$ 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark  that  a  stevedore 
cannot  be  suddenly  transformed  into  a  good  actor,  in 
the  theatrical  sense,  by  means  of  hypnotism.  Knowl- 
edge of  the  salient  characteristics  of  an  individual  is 
one  thing,  and  knowledge  of  the  requirements  of  the 
stage  is  quite  another.  The  principle,  however,  is 
the  same.  It  follows  that  an  actor  who  has  intelli- 
gently studied  his  part  and  knows  its  requirements, 
but  is  deficient  in  the  power  of  rendition,  could  be 
trained  to  a  high  state  of  efficiency  in  the  histrionic 
art  by  means  of  hypnotic  suggestion.  It  would,  of 
course,  require  a  trainer  of  high  character  and  excep- 
tional intelligence  to  achieve  the  best  results.1 

I  mention  these  hypnotic  experiments  for  the  pur- 
pose of  showing  how  perfectly  the  subjective  mind 
is  dominated  by  the  power  of  suggestion.  Whether 
true  or  false,  a  suggestion  wields  a  potent  influence, 
although  there  are  necessarily  degrees  of  potency  de- 
pending upon  conditions,  just  as  there  are  degrees  of 
potency  under  varying  conditions  in  every  force  in 
nature.  And,  like  every  other  force  in  nature,  sug- 
gestion acts  most  effectively  on  lines  of  least  resist- 
ance. Thus,  a  suggestion  that  is  contrary  to  the 
moral  principles  of  the  subject  will  be  resisted  with 
a  strength  and  persistence  proportioned  to  its  moral 
obliquity.  A  suggestion  the  performance  of  which 

1  Since  the  above  was  written,  Dr.  John  Duncan  Quackenbos,  emer- 
itus professor  of  Psychology  in  Columbia  University,  read  a  paper 
before  the  Medico-Legal  Society  of  New  York  on  this  subject,  which 
has  since  been  published  in  the  "Medico-Legal  Journal."  The  doctor 
is  one  of  the  leading  hypnotists  in  this  country ;  and  he  reports  some 
marvellous  successes  in  training  actors  for  the  stage.  Prof.  A.  E. 
Carpenter,  of  Boston,  has  also  been  highly  successful  in  training  sub- 
jects for  the  lecture  platform. 


26          THE  LA  W  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

would  render  the  subject  an  object  of  ridicule  will 
be  resisted  by  him  with  an  emphasis  proportioned 
to  his  pride  and  dignity.  A  suggestion  that  would 
imperil  the  life  of  the  subject  if  carried  into 
execution  will  be  resisted  with  an  energy  propor- 
tioned to  the  degree  and  imminence  of  the  peril 
involved. 

These  do  not  constitute  exceptions  to  the  law  of 
suggestion.  On  the  contrary,  they  serve  to  illustrate 
its  universality.  For,  be  it  remembered,  an  auto- 
suggestion is  just  as  potent,  other  things  being  equal, 
as  a  suggestion  from  another  person;  and  when  the 
subjective  mind  is  confronted  by  two  opposing  sug- 
gestions, the  stronger  one  necessarily  prevails.  Thus, 
the  settled  moral  principles  of  the  subject's  life  will 
successfully  resist  the  suggestions  of  crime  or  im- 
morality; for  moral  principles  constitute  auto-sug- 
gestions, the  strength  of  which  is  proportioned  to 
that  of  his  moral  character.  The  subject's  dignity 
of  character,  in  like  manner,  constitutes  an  auto- 
suggestion that  may  successfully  resist  a  suggestion 
the  active  acceptance  of  which  would  place  him  in  a 
ridiculous  attitude;  and  the  instinct  of  self-preser- 
vation will,  on  the  same  principle,  cause  him  to  re- 
fuse to  imperil  his  life.  *.± 

There  are,  in  fact,  an  infinite  number  of  condi- 
tions which  tend  more  or  less  strongly  to  modify  or 
divert  the  force  of  the  suggestions  which  find  lodg- 
ment in  the  subjective  mind  of  man.  Thus,  a  sug- 
gestion that  is  known  by  the  subject  in  his  normal 
condition  to  be  absolutely  false  will  always  excite  at 
least  a  momentary  opposition,  and  that,  too,  will  be 
duly  proportioned  to  the  enormity  of  the  falsehood. 


FIRST  PRINCIPLES  2/ 

In  matters  of  indifference  to  him  he  may  be  induced, 
by  persistence  and  iteration,  to  accept  and  act  upon 
it;  or  where  the  performance  of  the  act  suggested 
promises  to  result  in  a  decided  advantage  to  himself, 
he  may  accept  it  with  alacrity.  In  any  event,  when 
a  suggestion  is  once  accepted  and  followed  by  corre- 
sponding action,  its  falsity  and  its  incongruities  are 
soon  lost  sight  of  by  the  subject,  and,  to  all  its  pos- 
sible intents  and  purposes,  it  becomes  a  reality  to  his 
subjective  mind;  and  it  is  followed  by  all  its  con- 
sequences, within  the  limits  of  physical  possibility. 
Practical  illustrations  of  this  are  often  seen  in  cer- 
tain systems  of  mental  therapeutics,  where  the  pa- 
tient is  told  that  if  he  will  consent  to  believe  certain 
things  that  he  knows  to  be  untrue  and  to  the  last  de- 
gree absurd  and  impossible,  his  faith  will  be  speedily 
followed  by  restored  health.  Resistance  to  such  a 
suggestion  is,  of  course,  instantaneous;  and  it  is 
prolonged  in  proportion  to  the  patient's  intelligence. 
Nevertheless,  many  marvellous  cures  have  resulted 
under  suggestions  that  to  the  alienist  clearly  reveal 
their  origin  in  a  pathological  condition  of  the  mind 
of  their  inventor. 

It  will  now  be  seen  that  the  effectiveness  of  sug- 
gestions is  not  dependent  upon  the  induction  of  the 
hypnotic  condition;  for  under  the  system  to  which 
allusion  has  been  made  that  condition  is  never  in- 
duced, that  is,  in  the  sense  in  which  hypnosis  is  com- 
monly understood.  That  is  to  say,  the  condition  of 
hypnotic  sleep  is  never  induced.  Passivity  of  mind 
and  body  is  all  that  is  required  of  the  patients, 
which,  as  we  shall  see  later  on,  is  the  equivalent  of 
hypnosis  for  therapeutic  purposes.; 


28  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

The  points  to  be  observed  and  remembered  in  con- 
nection with  the  foregoing  are  the  following :  — 

1.  The  subjective  mind  is  constantly  amenable  to 
control  by  suggestion  without  reference  to  the  state 
or  condition  of  the  objective  mind. 

2.  Suggestions  operate  most  effectively  on  lines  of 
least  resistance. 

3.  Resistance    to    suggestions    from    extraneous 
sources   arises   from   auto-suggestions   having   their 
origin  in  various  emotions,  such  as  the  primordial 
instincts  (as  of  self-preservation,  love  of  offspring, 
etc.),  settled  moral  principles,  sensitiveness  to  ridi- 
cule, fixed  habits  of  thought,  or  love  of  scientific 
truth.    This  includes  resistance  to  suggestions  which 
are  in  obvious  contravention  of  reason,  experience, 
or  the  evidence  of  the  senses. 

4.  Resistance  to  the  last-named  suggestions  is  pro- 
portioned to  the  intelligence  of  the  subject,  and  hence 
it  is  often  overcome  by  persistence,  especially  when 
accompanied  by  promises  of  resultant  benefits,  as  in 
certain  methods  of  mental  healing. 

It  follows  that  while  the  faith  that  is  required  to 
make  therapeutic  suggestions  effective  is  primarily 
the  faith  of  the  subjective  mind,  nevertheless  sugges- 
tions are  most  potent  when  they  are  not  antagonized 
by  any  resistance  whatever,  either  intellectual  or  emo- 
tional. Hence  it  is  that  suggestions  which  are  based 
upon  scientific  truth,  other  things  being  equal,  are 
necessarily  the  most  potent  in  their  influence  and  per- 
manent in  their  effects.  As  in  all  the  other  relations 
of  human  life,  truth  is  mightier  than  error  or  false- 
hood, and  it  is  the  condition  precedent  to  all  perma- 
nent good. 


FIRST  PRINCIPLES  2$ 

Having  now  briefly  outlined  the  salient  points  per- 
taining to  the  first  two  fundamental  psychological 
propositions,  it  remains  to  add  a  third  term  to  com- 
plete a  working  hypothesis  for  the  systematic  study 
of  mental  medicine.  The  third  term,  or  proposition, 
therefore,  is  that  The  subjective  mind  is  the  power 
that  controls  the  functions,  sensations,  and  condi- 
tions of  the  body. 

I  need  not  dwell  at  length  upon  this  proposition 
here,  as  its  truth  will  more  fully  appear  as  we  pro- 
ceed in  subsequent  chapters.  No  scientist  will  deny 
the  existence  within  us  of  a  central  intelligence  which 
controls  the  bodily  functions,  and,  through  the  sym- 
pathetic nervous  system,  actuates  the  involuntary 
muscles,  and  keeps  the  bodily  machinery  in  motion. 
Nor  will  the  most  pronounced  materialist  deny  that 
this  central  intelligence  is  the  controlling  energy 
which  regulates  the  action  of  each  of  the  myriad 
cellular  entities  of  which  the  whole  body  is  com- 
posed. It  matters  not  how  we  may  designate  it,  or 
what  our  theories  may  be  as  to  its  origin  and  des- 
tiny ;  it  exists.  Whether  we  call  it  the  "  principle 
of  life,"  the  "  abdominal  brain,"  the  "  communal 
soul,"  the  "  subliminal  consciousness,"  or  the  "  sub- 
jective mind,"  it  exists;  and  it  controls  the  bodily 
functions  in  health  and  disease,  and,  in  turn,  is  con- 
trollable by  the  subtle  power  of  suggestion. 

We  have,  then,  in  three  propositions,  each  of  which 
is  demonstrable  by  experimentation,  a  complete  work- 
ing hypothesis  for  the  systematic  study  and  practice 
of  mental  therapeutics.  They  may  be  restated  and 
grouped  in  systematic  order  as  follows :  — 


30  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

1.  Man  is  endowed  with  a  dual  mind,  —  objective 
and  subjective. 

2.  The  subjective  mind  controls  the  functions,  sen- 
sations, and  conditions  of  the  body. 

3.  The  subjective  mind  is  amenable  to  control  by 
suggestion. 


VARIOUS  SYSTEMS  OF  MENTAL  HEALING     31 


CHAPTER   III 

THE  VARIOUS   SYSTEMS  OF   MENTAL   HEALING 

The  Intelligence  that  controls  the  Functions  of  the  Body  in  Health  the 
Power  or  Energy  that  requires  Assistance  in  Case  of  Disease.  — 
The  Body  a  Confederation  of  Micro-organisms  controlled  by  this 
Central  Intelligence.  —  It  is  a  Mental  Organism  that  all  Therapeu- 
tic Agencies  are  designed  to  energize.  —  Mental  Therapeutic  Agen- 
cies the  Primary  and  Normal  Means  for  this  End.  —  Physical 
Agencies  not  excluded.  —  A  Mental  Stimulus  more  direct  and 
positive  than  a  Physical  One.  —  Material  Remedies  Good  and 
Legitimate  Forms  of  Suggestion.  —  Whether  Remedies  are  Mate- 
rial or  Mental,  they  must  energize  the  Central  Controlling  Intelli- 
gence. —  The  Therapeutic  Value  of  all  Agencies  proportioned  to 
their  Power  to  stimulate  the  Subjective  Mind.  —  Suggestion  the 
Prepotent  Therapeutic  Energy.  —  This  is  the  Law  of  Mental  Heal- 
ing. —  The  Teleological  Argument  to  be  drawn  from  the  I.AW  of 
Mental  Medicine.  —  None  other  so  demonstrative  of  Divine  Be- 
nevolence. —  Absence  of  Fear  and  Pain  at  the  Moment  of  Disso- 
lution.—  This  Phenomenon,  considered  together  with  the  Law  of 
Mental  Healing,  possesses  a  Teleological  Significance.  —  The  Law 
of  Mental  Healing  is  universal  and  adapted  to  every  Grade  of 
Human  Intelligence.  —  Antiquity  of  Suggestion  as  a  Therapeutic. 
Agent.  —  Its  Myriad  Forms.  —  All  effective  in  proportion  to  their 
Faith-Inspiring  Potency.  —  Scientific  Significance  of  the  Beliefs 
and  Practices  of  Primitive  Humanity.  —  All  were  useful,  and 
each  was  adapted  to  some  Special  Grade  of  Intelligence.  —  Primi- 
tive Minds  still  exist  in  the  Highest  Modern  Civilization  with 
Corresponding  Powers  of  Reasoning.  —  Current  Beliefs  adapted 
to  Varying  Grades  of  Intelligence.  —  Their  Religious  Features 
Potent  Factors  in  their  Success.  —  Systems  based  upon  Error  less 
efficacious  than  one  founded  upon  Truth.  —  Nearly  all  refer  the 
Healing  Power  to  Extraneous  Sources,  an  Error  which  Jesus  in- 
sistently controverted 


32  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

IT  must  now  be  evident  to  the  scientific  student 
that  the  three  propositions  stated  at  the  close  of 
the  preceding  chapter  apply  with  equal  force  to  every 
system  of  mental  medicine,  from  fetichism  to  the 
most  exact  and  scientific  system  of  suggestive  thera- 
peutics. Like  all  the  laws  of  nature,  the  law  of 
mental  medicine  is  universal  in  its  application;  and, 
like  all  the  others,  it  is  simple  and  easily  compre- 
hended. Granted  that  there  is  an  intelligence  that 
controls  the  functions  of  the  body  in  health,  it  fol- 
lows that  it  is  the  same  power  or  energy  that  fails 
in  case  of  disease.  Failing,  it  requires  assistance; 
and  that  is  what  all  therapeutic  agencies  aim  to  ac- 
complish. No  intelligent  physician  of  any  school 
claims  to  be  able  to  do  more  than  to  "  assist  nature  " 
to  restore  normal  conditions  of  the  body.  That  it  is 
a  mental  energy  that  thus  requires  assistance,  no  one 
denies;  for  science  teaches  us  that  the  whole  body 
is  made  up  of  a  confederation  of  intelligent  entities, 
each  of  which  performs  its  functions  with  an  intel- 
ligence exactly  adapted  to  the  performance  of  its 
special  duties  as  a  member  of  the  confederacy.  There 
is,  indeed,  no  life  without  mind,  from  the  lowest  uni- 
cellular organism  up  to  man.  It  is,  therefore,  a  men- 
tal energy  that  actuates  every  fibre  of  the  body  under 
all  its  conditions.  That  there  is  a  central  intelligence 
that  controls  each  of  those  mind  organisms,  is  self- 
evident.  Whether,  as  the  materialistic  scientists  in- 
sist, this  central  intelligence  is  merely  the  sum  of  all 
the  cellular  intelligences  of  the  bodily  organism,  or 
is  an  independent  entity,  capable  of  sustaining  a  sep- 
arate existence  after  the  body  perishes,  is  a  question 
that  does  not  concern  us  in  the  pursuance  of  the  pres- 


VAKIOUS  SYSTEMS  OF  MENTAL  HEALING     33 

ent  inquiry.  It  is  sufficient  for  us  to  know  that  such 
an  intelligence  exists,  and  that,  for  the  time  being, 
it  is  the  controlling  energy  that  normally  regulates 
the  action  of  the  myriad  cells  of  which  the  body  is 
composed. 

It  is,  then,  a  mental  organism  that  all  therapeutic 
agencies  are  designed  to  energize,  when,  for  any 
cause,  it  fails  to  perform  its  functions  with  reference 
to  any  part  of  the  physical  structure.  It  follows  that 
mental  therapeutic  agencies  are  the  primary  and  nor- 
mal means  of  energizing  that  mental  organism.  That 
is  to  say,  mental  agencies  operate  more  directly  than 
any  other,  because  more  intelligibly,  upon  a  mental 
organism;  although  physical  agencies  are  by  no 
means  excluded,  for  all  experience  shows  that  a 
mental  organism  responds  to  physical  as  well  as  to 
mental  stimuli.  All  that  can  be  reasonably  claimed 
is  that,  in  therapeutics,  a  mental  stimulus  is  neces- 
sarily more  direct  and  more  positive  in  its  effects, 
other  things  being  equal,  than  a  physical  stimulus 
can  be,  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  is  intelligent  on 
the  one  hand  and  intelligible  on  the  other.  It  must 
be  remarked,  however,  that  it  is  obviously  impossible 
wholly  to  eliminate  mental  suggestion  even  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  material  remedies.  Extremists  claim 
that  the  whole  effect  of  material  remedies  is  due  to 
the  factor  of  mental  suggestion;  but  this  seems  to 
be  untenable,  for  reasons  stated  in  another  chapter. 
The  most  that  can  be  claimed  with  any  degree  of 
certainty  is  that  material  remedies,  when  they  are 
not  in  themselves  positively  injurious,  are  good  and 
legitimate  forms  of  suggestion,  and,  as  such,  are  in- 
vested with  a  certain  therapeutic  potency,  as  in  the 

3 


34  THE  LAW   OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

administration  of  the  placebo.  It  is  also  certain 
that,  whether  the  remedies  are  material  or  mental, 
they  must,  directly  or  indirectly,  energize  the  mental 
organism  in  control  of  the  bodily  functions.  Other- 
wise the  therapeutic  effects  produced  cannot  be  per- 
manent. It  follows  that  the  therapeutic  value  of  all 
remedial  agencies,  material  or  mental,  is  propor- 
tioned to  their  respective  powers  to  produce  the 
effect  of  stimulating  the  subjective  mind  to  a  state 
of  normal  activity,  and  directing  its  energies  into 
appropriate  channels.  We  know  that  suggestion  fills 
this  requirement  more  directly  and  positively  than 
any  other  known  therapeutic  agent;  and  this  is  all 
that  needs  to  be  done  for  the  restoration  of  health 
in  any  case  outside  the  domain  of  surgery.  It  is  all 
that  can  be  done.  No  power  in  the  universe  can 
do  more  than  energize  the  mental  organism  that  is 
the  seat  and  source  of  health  within  the  body.  A 
miracle  could  do  no  more. 

This,  then,  is  a  law  of  mental  healing.  Is  there 
any  other?  Each  of  the  indefinite  number  of  sects 
of  mental  healers  now  in  evidence  in  this  country 
tells  us  that  it  has  a  law  of  its  own,  —  which  is 
the  only  genuine  article,  all  the  others  being  either 
feeble  imitations  or  wholly  fraudulent,  wicked,  and 
diabolical.  They  agree  in  but  one  thing,  and  that  is 
in  hating  the  medical  profession;  and  they  hate  but 
one  thing  more  than  they  do  that  profession,  and 
that  is  each  other.  They  have,  however,  a  common 
logic,  by  means  of  which  each  one  proves  that  his 
is  the  only  scientific  system  of  mental  therapeutics. 
Each  holds  that  the  fact  that  he  heals  the  sick  by 
his  method  is  demonstrative  that  his  theory  is  the 


VARIOUS  SYSTEMS  OF  MENTAL  HEALING     35 

criterion  of  scientific  truth.  I  have  before  remarked 
that  the  one  thing  that  correlates  all  methods  of 
mental  healing  is  the  fact  that  they  all  succeed  in 
healing  disease.  If,  therefore,  their  logic  is  sound, 
there  are  as  many  laws  of  mental  medicine  as  there 
are  mental  healers ;  and  the  "  systems  "  of  the  Black- 
foot  Indian  and  the  fetich  worshipper  stand  on  as 
firm  a  scientific  basis  as  the  most  enlightened  mental 
therapeutist  of  the  twentieth  century. 

It  requires  but  the  most  elementary  scientific  edu- 
cation to  teach  one  to  know  that  God  is  not  thus 
prodigal  of  special  laws.  The  first  lesson  that  the 
merest  tyro  in  science  learns  is  that  all  of  nature's 
laws  are  general,  that  each  one  covers  a  vast  do- 
main, and  that  allied  or  cognate  phenomena  are  gov- 
erned by  some  one  universal  law  which  tolerates  no 
exceptions.  In  nothing  is  the  wisdom  of  the  Crea- 
tor so  conspicuously  manifested  as  in  the  universal- 
ity of  his  laws;  and  theology  has  never  formulated 
a  teleological  argument  so  strong  and  convincing  and 
unanswerable  as  that  to  be  drawn  from  the  law  of 
mental  medicine.  For  it  not  only  shows  the  infinite 
wisdom  of  God,  but  it  is  demonstrative  of  his  infin- 
ite love  for  all  mankind,  his  infinite  mercy,  his 
infinite  benevolence  toward  all  sentient  creatures. 
All  the  laws  of  nature  may  be  said  to  exhibit  infin- 
ite intelligence  and  wisdom;  but  they  do  not  all 
demonstrate,  to  the  finite  understanding,  the  exist- 
ence of  the  attributes  of  love,  mercy,  and  benevo- 
lence in  the  character  of  the  Lawgiver.  The  law  of 
organic  evolution,  for  instance,  involves  an  infinite 
prodigality  of  life,  and  the  necessity  for  universal 
death,  to  say  nothing  of  the  apparently  total  disre- 


36          THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

gard  of  the  lives  and  the  comfort  of  all  sentient 
creatures  involved  in  the  normal  operation  of  the 
physical  forces  of  nature.  It  requires  the  postula- 
tion  of  a  design,  a  commensurate  end  in  view,  — 
namely,  the  development  of  man,  the  evolution  oi 
an  immortal  soul,  —  to  make  the  wisdom  of  the  law 
of  organic  evolution  manifest  to  the  common  under- 
standing. To  those,  however,  who  choose  to  deny 
the  existence  of  any  such  evidences  of  design,  the 
structure  of  the  physical  universe  and  the  display  of 
its  physical  forces  prove  nothing  but  the  existence 
of  a  blind,  unintelligent  energy,  actuated  by  an  iron 
necessity,  in  which  man  figures  as  an  accidental 
and  altogether  insignificant  product.  To  be  entirely 
candid,  it  must  be  admitted  that  when  the  physical 
forces  of  nature  are  alone  considered,  the  atheistic 
view  is  not  without  a  basis  of  reason.  But  when  we 
consider  in  this  connection  the  phenomena  of  mind, 
as  exhibited  in  all  sentient  creatures,  from  the  lowest 
unicellular  organism  up  to  man,  the  argument  falls 
of  its  own  weight.  It  is  true  that  much  in  the  phe- 
nomena of  mind  may  be  accounted  for  by  reference 
to  the  law  of  heredity  and  the  accidents  of  environ- 
ment, but  not  all.  Heredity  may  be  invoked  to 
account  for  all  that  is  thus  transmissible,  and  en- 
vironment may  account  for  modifications;  but  there 
are  attributes  of  all  sentient  life  which  heredity  can- 
not explain  and  which  environment  cannot  modify. 
For  instance,  the  immunity  from  fear  of  death  on 
its  near  approach,  or  when  it  becomes  inevitable,  is 
a  blessing  that  is  enjoyed  by  all  sentient  creatures. 
And  those  physicians  who  are  most  familiar  with 
death  in  all  its  forms  assure  us  that  in  the  process 


VARIOf/S  SYSTEMS  OF  MENTAL  HEALING     37 

of  dissolution  no  pain  whatever  is  experienced.  On 
the  contrary,  the  sensations  are  evidently  pleasur- 
able rather  than  painful.  At  least,  no  matter  what 
form  death  may  assume,  all  fear  of  it  vanishes  upon 
its  near  approach,  and  the  victim  dies  "  without  pain 
and  without  regret"  (Hammond). 

Now,  no  one  has  ever  been  able  to  assign  a  bio- 
logical reason  for  this  immunity.  It  stands  apart 
from  all  other  biological  facts  in  that  it  appears  to 
be  valueless  as  a  factor  in  the  scheme  of  organic 
evolution,  and  yet  it  is  as  universal  as  sentient  life 
itself.  The  fear  of  death  is  also  universal;  but  it 
has  its  uses,  which  are  obvious,  as  is  the  universal 
instinct  of  reproduction.  Pain  is  also  useful  as  a 
preservative  of  life,  in  that  it  stands  as  a  sentinel  to 
warn  sentient  creatures  of  imminent  peril.  But  of 
what  practical  utility,  from  a  biological  point  of 
view,  is  immunity  from  physical  pain  and  mental 
agony,  when  the  supreme  moment  arrives?  It 
neither  prolongs  life  nor  shortens  it  for  an  instant, 
nor  does  it  affect  in  the  remotest  degree  the  welfare 
of  those  that  are  left  behind.  Its  only  importance, 
therefore,  pertains  to  the  individual  who  experiences 
the  sensation.  Brief  as  it  is,  it  is  of  supreme  impor- 
tance to  him. 

It  is  idle  to  say  that  a  fact  in  nature  so  universal 
as  this,  is  without  commensurate  significance;  and 
since  biological  explanations  fail  we  are  driven  to 
seek  for  ethical  reasons.  Nor  are  they  hard  to  find 
if  we  postulate  a  God  of  infinite  love,  mercy,  and  be- 
nevolence toward  his  creatures,  and  yet  a  God  whose 
reign  is  of  law.  The  law  of  evolution  necessitates  a 
struggle  for  life,  ending  in  inevitable  death.  With- 


38  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

out  the  struggle  there  could  be  no  improvement,  no 
progressive  development.  Without  universal  death 
evolution  would  cease  in  a  generation.  Since,  there- 
fore, all  must  die,  is  it  not  an  appropriate  measure 
of  compensation  or  mitigation,  to  rob  death  of  its 
terrors  and  its  agony?  It  is,  indeed,  the  only  con- 
ceivable mitigation  of  the  death  penalty;  and  hu- 
man lawgivers  in  civilized  countries  exhaust  the  re- 
sources of  science  in  an  effort  to  devise  means  to 
insure  a  painless  death  for  those  whom  the  law  has 
condemned  to  die.  The  quality  of  mercy  thus 
evinced  in  human  enactments  is  obviously  identical 
in  kind  and  purpose  with  the  divine.  It  follows 
that  the  same  logical  conclusions  are  derivable  from 
both,  namely:  A  law  that  produces  exclusively  the 
results  of  mercy  and  benevolence,  presupposes  a  law- 
giver who  is  endowed  with  intelligence  and  actuated 
by  corresponding  emotions. 

The  pious  Jacobi *  once  said  in  effect,  "  Nature 
conceals  God;  man  reveals  God."  This  is  emi- 
nently true  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  it  does  not  go  far 
enough.  If  he  had  said  that  mind  alone  reveals  God, 
he  would  have  included  all  the  indubitable  revela- 
tions of  the  existence  of  an  intelligent  Deity  that 
the  universe  affords;  for  the  mind  of  the  lowest 
unicellular  organism  presents  evidence  as  conclusive 
of  its  divine  origin  as  is  found  in  the  mind  of  man.2 
If  he  had  said  that  God  reveals  himself  unmistaka- 
bly to  man  only  in  the  sign-language  of  love,  mercy, 
and  benevolence,  he  would  have  expressed  a  great 
scientific  truth. 

1  Quoted  by  Sir  William  Hamilton,  Metaphysics,  p.  29. 

2  See  "  The  Divine  Pedigree  of  Man." 


VARIOUS  SYSTEMS  OF  MENTAL  HEALING     39 

Cognate  to  these  phenomena,  in  their  beneficent 
characteristics,  are  those  of  mental  healing.  One 
is  for  the  benefit  of  the  dying,  and  the  other  of 
the  living.  Considered  separately,  the  phenomena 
of  mental  healing  do  not  possess  equal  teleological 
significance  with  the  phenomena  immediately  ac- 
companying dissolution,  because  the  former  may  be 
considered  merely  as  a  part  of  the  grand  scheme 
by  which  life  is  conserved  and  evolution  is  made 
possible.  Considered  together,  however,  as  all  cog- 
nate phenomena  must  be  considered,  the  evidential 
value  of  one  series  is  carried  over  into  the  other. 
Hence  we  have  a  logical  right  to  regard  the  quali- 
ties of  mercy  and  benevolence,  which  are  inseparable 
from  the  law  of  mental  healing,  as  possessing  equal 
teleological  significance  with  the  same  qualities  in 
the  other  class  of  phenomena. 

It  is,  however,  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  formulate 
a  teleological  argument,  per  se,  in  this  connection.  I 
merely  wish  to  draw  attention  to  the  grand  scheme  of 
benevolence  to  mankind  involved  in  the  law  of  mental 
healing.  Whether  we  consider  it  a  purposive  scheme 
of  benevolence  on  the  part  of  an  intelligent  Deity,  or 
as  the  accidental  outcome  of  the  operation  of  blind  and 
unintelligent  forces  reacting  upon  each  other,  —  that 
is  to  say,  whether  we  consider  it  as  a  law  of  God 
or  a  law  of  nature,  —  the  law  exists ;  and  its  effects 
are  those  of  infinite  mercy  and  benevolence  toward 
all  mankind.  The  laws  of  physical  nature  excite 
emotions  of  admiration  and  awe,  and  even  reverence ; 
but  they  are  tempered  by  the  reflection  that  in  their 
phenomenal  manifestations  they  regard  not  the  well- 
being  or  the  life  of  man,  and  that  the  most  sublime 


40          THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

manifestation  of  nature's  forces  may  be  surcharged 
with  irresistible  ruin  and  death  to  thousands  of  hu- 
man beings.  On  the  other  hand,  the  law  of  mental 
healing  stimulates  equally  the  emotions  of  admira- 
tion, reverence,  love,  and  gratitude,  —  admiration 
and  reverence  for  its  universality  and  its  wisdom; 
love,  for  that  behind  it  the  Divine  Father  stands  re- 
vealed; and  gratitude,  for  that,  in  all  its  effects, 
his  infinite  love,  mercy,  and  benevolence  are  made 
manifest. 

From  a  scientific  point  of  view  there  is  nothing 
in  the  broad  realm  of  natural  law  that  is  more 
truly  wonderful  than  the  law  of  mental  healing. 
Its  simplicity  has  already  been  shown;  and  this 
alone  is  prima  facie  evidence  of  the  validity  of  the 
three  psychological  propositions  which  constitute  its 
formula.  And,  as  in  every  other  law  of  nature, 
this  prima  facie  evidence  becomes  conclusive  proof 
when  the  fact  of  universality  is  established.  It  is 
the  fact  of  the  universality  of  this  law  that  ex- 
cites the  wonder  and  extorts  the  admiration  of  the 
scientist,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  adapted  to  every 
conceivable  grade  of  human  intelligence,  from  that 
of  primitive  savagery  to  that  of  the  highest  conceiv- 
able civilization.  It  is  impossible  to  find  words  in 
which  to  express  adequately  the  value  to  mankind  of 
this  stupendous  fact.  We  may  faintly  realize  it,  how- 
ever, when  we  reflect  that  for  untold  ages  sugges- 
tion was  the  only  therapeutic  agency  available  to 
man.  Medicine,  if  we  date  its  advent  from  Hip- 
pocrates, "  the  father  of  medicine,"  who  flourished 
about  400  B.  c.,  is  a  modern  institution  when  com- 
pared with  that  long  line  of  healers  who  wrought 


VARIOUS  SYSTEMS  OF  MENJ^AL   HEALING     41 

their  therapeutic  wonders  by  the  aid  of  suggestion 
in  its  myriad  forms. 

It  would  require  many  volumes  of  the  size  of  this 
to  catalogue  the  different  methods  of  mental  healing, 
ancient  and  modern,  and  point  out  how  suggestion 
operates  to  effect  a  cure  in  each  particular  case.  Nor 
is  it  necessary  to  do  so;  for  the  intelligent  reader 
has  already  grasped  the  central  idea  that  any  form 
of  belief  which  inspires  the  faith  of  the  patient,  when 
supplemented  by  a  corresponding  therapeutic  sug- 
gestion, is  efficacious  as  a  therapeutic  agency.  In 
other  words,  conditions  being  favorable,  anything 
that  the  patient  has  faith  in  is  efficacious  as  a 
therapeutic  agent.  Thus,  the  fetich  worshipper,  who 
believes  that  a  stick  or  a  stone  is  inhabited  by  a 
powerful  and  beneficent  spirit  whose  aid  can  be  in- 
voked by  certain  ceremonies,  may,  by  the  perform- 
ance of  the  prescribed  rites,  be  restored  to  health. 
Why?  Simply  because  the  ceremony  constitutes  a 
suggestion  which  inspires  the  faith  and  stimulates 
into  normal  activity  and  energy  that  central  intelli- 
gence which  controls  the  bodily  functions.  The 
North  American  Indian  believes  that  evil  spirits 
are  responsible  for  all  his  diseases;  and  his  medi- 
cine man  tells  him  that  he  can  frighten  away  said 
evil  spirits  by  making  hideous  noises,  supplemented 
by  a  diabolical  make-up.  He  prepares  himself  ac- 
cordingly, and  seating  himself  before  the  wigwam 
door,  in  full  view  of  the  patient,  proceeds  to  make 
things  unpleasant  for  all  concerned,  and  positively 
unendurable  for  the  evil  spirit.  The  latter  generally 
flees  in  the  course  of  a  day  or  two,  leaving  the 
patient  to  recover.  I  have  authentic  information 


42          THE  LA  W  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

from  educated  Indians,  who  assure  me  that,  for 
"  the  poor  Indian,  whose  untutored  mind  sees  God 
in  clouds  or  hears  him  in  the  wind,"  this  method 
of  healing  is  generally  more  effective  than  are  the 
material  remedies  of  the  educated  physician.  It  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  remark  that  the  suggestion 
embraced  in  his  belief  as  to  the  cause  of  disease, 
together  with  the  performance  of  the  ceremony 
which  he  believed  to  be  an  effective  way  of  re- 
moving the  cause,  was  the  all-sufficient  therapeutic 
agency  in  the  case  of  the  North  American  Indian. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  same  remarks  apply  to  all 
conceivable  theories  of  causation  and  all  forms  of 
suggestion  corresponding  to  the  theories.  They  are 
all  effective  in  exact  proportion  to  their  faith-inspir- 
ing potency.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  in 
the  days  of  primitive  humanity,  when  superstition 
was  universal,  there  prevailed  an  indefinite  number 
of  effective  methods  of  mental  healing. 

Nor  does  it  become  the  scientists  of  this  enlight- 
ened age  to  scoff  at  the  primitive  beliefs  and  prac- 
tices of  humanity  in  its  infancy.  It  was  the  only 
therapeutic  agency  that  was  available  to  them;  and 
if  they  builded  better  than  they  knew,  it  was  be- 
cause God,  in  his  infinite  mercy,  had  instituted  a 
law  adapted  to  the  therapeutic  uses  of  every  grade 
of  human  intelligence.  It  is  equally  reprehensible 
for  us  to  inveigh  against  any  of  the  innumerable 
systems  of  mental  healing  that  prevail  amidst  the 
highest  civilization  of  the  twentieth  century.  They 
are  all  useful,  and  they  are  useful  simply  because 
each  one  is  adapted  to  some  special  grade  of  intel- 
ligence. Besides,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 


VARIOUS  SYSTEMS  OF  MENTAL  HEALING     43 

primitive  minds,  with  corresponding  methods  of 
thought  and  powers  of  reasoning,  still  exist  in  vast 
numbers  in  this  as  in  all  previous  ages  of  mankind. 
It  is,  indeed,  doubtful  if  primitive  man  ever  en- 
tertained a  superstitious  belief  that  was  more  gross 
and  grotesque  than  some  that  prevail  at  the  present 
day  and  form  the  basis  of  popular  and  successful 
systems  of  mental  therapeutics.  Between  the  gross- 
est superstition  and  scientific  truth  there  necessarily 
exist  many  gradations  of  human  intelligence;  and 
the  fact  that  all  grades  exist  together  in  the  most 
civilized  nations  is  due  to  the  fact  that  civilization 
itself  is  still  in  the  formative  stage.  As  the  phylo- 
genetic  history  of  the  primordial  germ  is  repeated, 
step  by  step,  in  the  ontogenetic  history  of  the  germi- 
nal cell  of  man,  so  is  every  grade  of  the  progressive 
development  of  civilization  to  be  found  existing  to- 
gether in  the  most  enlightened  nations.  It  follows 
that  variant  theories  and  systems  of  mental  healing 
are  as  likely  to  prevail  now  as  they  were  in  the  days 
of  primitive  man.  Accordingly  we  find  a  great  and 
constantly  increasing  number  of  systems,  each  with 
an  enthusiastic  following.  This  could  not  be  true 
were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  they  are  all  more  or 
less  successful  mental  healers.  They  could  not  be 
successful  mental  healers  were  they  not  able  to 
induce  the  necessary  mental  conditions  in  their 
patients;  and  they  could  not  induce  the  necessary 
conditions  with  any  certainty  of  uniform  results, 
were  their  systems,  respectively,  not  adapted  to  the 
mental  capacity  of  their  followers.  That  is  to  say, 
the  theory  of  causation  and  the  form  of  suggestion 
in  each  case  must,  in  order  to  produce  the  best  re- 


44  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

suits,  appeal  to  the  beliefs,  the  habits  of  thought,  or 
the  prejudices  of  the  patient;  which  is  but  another 
way  of  saying,  what  has  already  been  dwelt  upon, 
that  suggestions  are  most  effective  when  acting 
upon  lines  of  least  resistance. 

It  is  true  that  the  faith  required  for  therapeutic 
purposes  is  the  faith  of  the  subjective  mind;  and, 
as  that  mind  is  controllable  by  the  power  of  sug- 
gestion, it  may  be  thus  controlled  even  when  the 
basic  theory  of  causation  is  contrary  to  reason,  ex- 
perience, and  the  evidence  of  the  senses.  But  in 
such  cases  some  emotion  that  is  stronger  in  the 
mind  of  the  patient  than  the  mere  love  of  scientific 
truth  must  be  appealed  to  in  order  to  make  a  thera- 
peutic suggestion  effective.  Thus,  a  strong  desire 
or  hope  of  renewed  health  will  cause  many  to  ignore 
all  theories  which  may  be  entertained  by  the  healer, 
however  imbecile  they  may  be;  and  by  dissociating 
the  therapeutic  suggestion  from  the  theory  of  causa- 
tion, they  will  be  able  to  experience  the  benefits  of 
the  suggestion.  This  is  comparatively  easy  for  one 
who  has  had  no  scientific  training,  or  in  whom  the 
love  of  scientific  truth  is  subordinate  to  the  egoistic 
emotions.  The  religious  emotions  are  also  potent 
factors  in  causing  many  to  ignore  an  impossible 
theory,  or  even  to  believe  it  with  hysterical  fer- 
vency, when  they  are  told  that  the  theory  is  insep- 
arable from  successful  practice. 

Besides,  there  is  a  large  class  of  people  in  every 
community  the  fervency  of  whose  belief  in  theories 
that  minister  to  their  emotions  is  always  in  inverse 
proportion  to  the  amount  of  evidence  that  can  be 
adduced  to  sustain  them.  Hence  it  happens  that 


VARIOUS  SYSTEMS  OF  MENTAL  HEALING     45 

those  theories  which  command  their  most  fervent 
belief,  and  are  advocated  with  hysterical  aggressive- 
ness, are  invariably  those  which  everybody  knows 
to  be  untrue. 

Nevertheless,  their  system  is  exactly  adapted  to 
their  mental  capacity;  and,  speaking  from  a  purely 
therapeutical  standpoint,  they  are  entitled  to  the 
undisturbed  enjoyment  of  their  beliefs  and  the  bene- 
fits derivable  therefrom.  The  law  of  mental  heal- 
ing is  as  clearly  for  their  benefit  as  it  is  for  all  other 
classes  of  people  and  grades  of  human  intelligence. 
There  is,  indeed,  a  therapeutic  value  to  them  in 
being  undisturbed  in  their  beliefs;  for  experience 
shows  that  the  efficacy  of  a  therapeutic  suggestion 
is  weakened,  and  often  destroyed,  by  disturbing  the 
prejudices  of  the  patient.  Thus,  it  often  happens 
that  after  a  cure  has  been  effected,  the  patient  will 
totally  relapse  upon  learning  that  the  healer  believes 
something  against  which  the  patient  entertains  a 
prejudice,  or  disbelieves  in  something  which  the 
patient  believes,  although  the  belief  or  the  disbelief 
may  not  have  the  remotest  connection  with  mental 
healing.  This  is  especially  true  of  religious  beliefs 
and  prejudices.  Hence  it  was  that  the  Master  al- 
ways carefully  avoided  disturbing  the  religious  prej- 
udices or  beliefs  of  his  patients. 

It  is,  therefore,  worse  than  useless,  from  a  thera- 
peutic point  of  view,  to  attempt  to  educate  one  of 
the  classes  referred  to  in  the  true  science  of  mental 
therapeutics.  As  a  rule,  they  have  never  been  trained 
in  scientific  methods  of  investigation  or  in  habits  of 
clear  thinking;  and  a  palpable  fact  is  considered  by 
them  as  utterly  valueless  when  it  conflicts  with  some 


46          THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

fantastical  theory  that  ministers  to  their  emotions. 
Besides,  those  who  have  sought  to  make  a  religion 
of  mental  healing  are  doing  a  good  work;  for,  be- 
sides healing  the  sick,  they  have  poured  the  balm  of 
religious  consolation  into  many  a  stricken  heart,  and 
made  better  men  and  women  of  many  who  were 
unable  to  assimilate  any  other  form  of  religion. 
This  is  but  another  way  of  saying  that  their  religion 
is  adapted  to  the  needs  and  capacity  of  those  who 
can  assimilate  it.  I  have  said  that  mental  healing 
is  not  a  religion,  and  for  that  statement  I  have  the 
authority  of  the  Master;  but  that  is  not  saying  that 
true  religion  is  not  a  powerful  auxiliary  to  mental 
healing.  All  experience  shows  that  it  is;  for  it  is 
not  only  a  wonderfully  efficacious  form  of  sugges- 
tion, but  it  promotes  that  calm  serenity  of  mind 
which  is  of  the  first  importance  in  all  systems  of 
mental  medicine.  Prayer  is  also  wonderfully  effec- 
tive, for  more  reasons  than  one;  but  this  subject 
cannot  be  discussed  here. 

But,  while  mental  healing  is  in  no  sense  a  religion, 
it  is  impossible  for  any  right-minded  person  to  re- 
flect upon  the  law  of  mental  healing,  its  universality, 
its  adaptability  to  all  grades  of  human  intelligence, 
together  with  its  implications  of  divine  love,  mercy, 
and  benevolence,  without  a  feeling  of  the  profound- 
est  reverence  for  the  Being  whose  wisdom  and 
fatherhood  is  thus  unmistakably  manifested.  It 
teaches  humility,  promotes  religion,  inspires  grati- 
tude, and  disarms  prejudice  against  any  form  or 
process  by  which  the  law  is  made  available  for  the 
alleviation  of  human  suffering. 
,  It  must  not  be  inferred  from  the  foregoing  that 


VARIOUS  SYSTEMS  OF  MENTAL  HEALING     47 

all  systems  of  mental  healing  are  of  equal  value  to 
mankind,  for  that  would  be  equivalent  to  alleging 
that  error  and  superstition  are  as  potent  for  good 
as  scientific  truth.  God  has  not  thus  equalized  the 
value  of  truth  and  falsehood,  or  good  and  evil,  for 
any  purpose  whatever.  In  primitive  times,  when 
all  systems  were  based  upon  error,  they  may  have 
been  equally  valuable  as  instruments  of  God's  mercy 
to  his  children  during  the  infancy  of  the  human 
race,  when  truth  was  not  available  to  any.  But  in 
an  enlightened  age,  when  many  are  seeking  for 
truth  with  strenuous  effort,  and  some  are  even  find- 
ing it,  the  whole  aspect  is  changed;  for  when  once 
a  fundamental  truth  is  discovered,  in  any  science, 
or  in  any  field  of  human  thought,  all  systems  based 
upon  error  must  eventually  yield,  however  useful 
they  may  have  been  in  their  day  and  generation. 
Nothing  is  permanent  but  truth.  Error  loses  its 
vitality  in  the  sunlight  of  truth;  and  hence  no 
human  institution  that  is  based  upon  a  fundamental 
error  can  permanently  endure  in  the  presence  of  a 
fundamental  truth.  Wrong  systems  may  endure  for 
ages  when  sustained  by  interest  or  prejudice;  but 
their  incidental  good  effects  become  less  and  less  in 
evidence,  and  finally  vanish.  This  is  especially  true 
in  the  domain  of  mind,  where  everything  depends 
upon  mental  attitudes  and  conditions. 

I  have  already  shown  how  the  effects  of  a  valid 
therapeutic  suggestion  may  be  vitiated  by  the  emo- 
tional prejudices  of  the  patient.  It  is  obvious  that 
the  same  effect  is  likely  to  happen  when  a  patient 
has  been  healed  by  a  false  system  and  afterwards 
learns  that  the  system  is  based  upon  a  fundamental 


48 

error.  Action  and  reaction  are  always  equal.  Hence, 
when  a  lover  of  truth  reacts  against  a  false  system, 
the  violence  of  the  reaction  is  proportioned  to  the 
grotesque  imbecility  of  the  system.  He  simply  loses 
faith  in  the  false  system  when  he  learns  the  truth; 
and  the  effects  are  retroactive.  It  is  obvious  that 
there  can  be  no  such  reaction  against  a  system 
founded  upon  scientific  truth.  Reaction  against  an 
inductive  science  is  impossible,  for  truth  is  eternal. 
Every  step,  therefore,  is  in  advance;  for  every  fresh 
discovery  of  fundamental  truth  forms  the  basis  of 
a  new  departure  into  still  higher  realms  of  the  same 
truth  and  its  cognates.  The  reaction  is,  therefore, 
always  against  error  when  truth  is  once  discovered 
and  made  manifest  to  the  human  understanding. 

There  is,  however,  another  reason  for  the  want  of 
permanency  in  the  cures  effected  under  false  theories 
of  causation.  All,  or  nearly  all,  of  them  refer  the 
power  that  effects  the  healing  to  some  agency  extra- 
neous to  the  patient  himself.  This,  as  I  have  already 
pointed  out,  is  a  fundamental  error  which  Jesus  com- 
bated with  insistent  iteration.  It  is  not  only  false 
as  a  matter  of  demonstrable  fact,  but  it  is  the  pro- 
genitor of  a  whole  train  of  false  theories  and  con- 
clusions, some  of  which  contain  the  germs  of  a 
destructive  energy  that  is  often  fatal  to  the  perma- 
nency of  the  cures  effected  under  the  hypothesis. 
The  reason  is  that  when  a  patient  is  once  convinced 
that  an  extraneous  power  has  interposed  to  effect 
his  cure,  he  feels  that  he  is  in  some  way  dependent 
upon  that  power  for  the  future  preservation  of  his 
health.  He  feels  himself  to  be  a  helpless  dependent 
upon  the  favor  of  some  extraneous  intelligence  of 


VARIOUS  SYSTEMS  OF  MENTAL  HEALIXG     49 

which  he  knows  nothing,  except  that  its  aid  was 
once  invoked  in  his  behalf  by  some  third  person, 
namely,  the  healer.  The  result  is  that  when  the  • 
personality  of  the  healer  is  removed,  the  patient  be- 
gins to  entertain  doubts  as  to  whether  he  may  expect 
a  continuance  of  the  favor.  Soon  his  doubts  deepen 
into  convictions,  and  when  the  expected  unfavorable 
symptoms  are  felt,  his  convictions  become  certain- 
ties, and  he  feels  that  for  some  inscrutable  reason 
he  has  forfeited  the  good-will  of  the  healing  agency. 
The  result  is  a  relapse.  In  one  form  or  another  this 
adverse  factor  is  ever  present  with  him  who  heeds 
not  the  words  of  the  Master,  but  pins  his  faith  upon 
some  hypothetical  healing  power  extraneous  to  him- 
self, and  whose  favor  he  cannot  command. 

All  this  is,  of  course,  in  violent  contrast  to  the 
true  science  of  mental  healing  as  it  has  been  de- 
duced from  the  immutable  laws  of  nature  recently 
discovered  by  modern  scientists.  Of  the  existence 
of  those  laws  there  can  be  no  room  for  rational 
doubt.  They  have  been  demonstrated  by  thousands 
of  the  most  careful  scientific  experiments  by  the 
ablest  living  psychologists.  Their  universal  applica- 
bility to  the  phenomena  of  mental  healing  has  also 
been  demonstrated  by  careful  observation  and  ex- 
perimentation. That  is  to  say,  the  existence  of 
those  psychological  laws  affords  a  scientific  expla- 
nation of  all  the  phenomena  of  mental  healing.  It 
shows  why  each  and  all  methods  are  successful  in 
the  production  of  therapeutic  results. 

The  fact  remains  that  there  can  be  but  one  cor- 
rect method  —  or,  to  say  the  least,  but  one  best 
method  —  of  applying  the  law  to  the  uses  of  mental 

4 


50          THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

medicine.  That  method  must  necessarily  be  the 
one  which  is  based  upon  demonstrable  scientific 
truth ;  the  method  which  eliminates  all  taint  of  fraud, 
falsehood,  and  superstition;  the  method  which  ap- 
peals to  the  reason  of  both  healer  and  patient.  The 
faith  of  the  patient  being  the  primary  mental  con- 
dition sought,  it  is  obviously  more  easily  attained  by 
an  appeal  to  reason  than  to  blind  credulity.  The 
effects  are  more  permanent  because  there  can  never 
be  a  reaction  against  it  caused  by  a  discovery  of 
fraud,  deception,  or  a  false  suggestion.  It  is  also 
more  permanent  because  the  science  teaches  man 
what  he  is.  It  reveals  his  inherent  powers  and 
points  out  his  limitations.  Most  important  of  all 
in  this  connection  is  the  fact  that,  in  revealing  man 
to  himself,  it  teaches  him  that  he  can  control  the 
energy  within  himself  which,  in  turn,  controls  his 
vital  functions. 

These  remarks  apply,  of  course,  only  to  those  who 
love  truth  better  than  falsehood  or  error,  and  who 
are  mentally  capable  of  exercising  the  discrimina- 
tive power  of  induction;  and  they  are  not  addressed 
to  any  other  class  of  minds. 


THE  DUPLEX  MENTAL   ORGANISM          51 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE  DUPLEX  MENTAL  ORGANISM 

Faith  can  be  acquired  by  Study  and  Reasoning.  —  Thus  acquired,  it 
is  perfect  and  permanent.  —  It  is  essential  that  the  Healer  be 
grounded  in  the  Fundamental  Principles  of  his  Science.  —  The 
Phenomena  of  Dreams  point  to  the  Theory  of  the  Dual  Mind.  — 
The  Operations  of  the  Dream  Intelligence  essentially  different 
from  those  of  Waking  Consciousness.  —  The  Subjective,  or  Dream 
Intelligence  incapable  of  Inductive  Reasoning,  and  controlled  by 
Suggestion.  —  Rapidity  of  Subjective  Mentation.  —  Hypnotism  a 
Means  by  which  Dreams  can  be  induced,  controlled,  and  experi- 
mented with.  —  It  is  the  Instrument  for  the  Investigation  of  the 
Problems  of  Psychology.  —  It  has  found  in  Man  a  Soul,  and  re- 
yealed  the  Evidence  of  its  Divine  Origin.  —  It  has  segregated  the 
Phenomena  of  the  Objective  and  Subjective  Minds,  and  shown  the 
Distinctive  Powers  and  Limitations  of  Each. 

HAVING  now  stated  in  general  outline  the 
fundamental  principles  of  mental  medicine, 
and  shown  the  universality  of  the  law  of  nature 
under  which  is  made  possible  the  healing  of  the 
nations,  it  remains  to  deal  more  in  detail  with  the 
fundamental  propositions  which  constitute  the  basis 
of  scientific  mental  healing.  This  becomes  neces- 
sary for  the  reason  that  success  in  mental  healing 
by  scientific  methods  is  best  promoted  by  first  ac- 
quiring a  clear  understanding  of  the  law  under 
which  the  healing  is  effected.  In  other  words,  sci- 
entific methods  require  scientific  knowledge  for  their 
successful  application.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to 


52 

observe  that  this  is  in  violent  contrast  to  the  con- 
ditions required  for  success  in  mental  healing  by 
the  unscientific  methods  to  which  we  have  alluded 
in  the  preceding  chapter.  Obviously  a  knowledge 
of  science,  or  a  capacity  to  reason,  would  handicap 
a  healer  who  practises  by  methods  involving  an  un- 
scientific theory  of  causation,  especially  one  that  in- 
v  volves  the  insensate  denial  of  every  fact  of  human 
experience. 

Nevertheless,  faith  is  as  essential  to  success  in 
healing  by  scientific  methods  as  by  any  other.  But 
there  are  three  advantages  in  this  regard  which  are 
incident  to  scientific  methods.  The  first  is  that 
the  requisite  faith  can  be  acquired  by  study  and 
reasoning;  the  second  is  that  the  faith  is  perfect, 
for  the  reason  that  it  is  acquired  through  knowledge 
and  confirmed  by  reason;  and  the  third  is  that  the 
faith  thus  acquired  and  sanctioned  becomes  at  once  a 
permanent  possession,  because  there  can  arise  no  ad- 
verse auto-suggestions  from  the  objective  mind  to 
weaken  its  potency. 

It  becomes,  therefore,  a  matter  of  the  first  impor- 
tance for  the  healer  to  be  well  grounded  in  the 
fundamental  principles  underlying  the  science  which 
he  proposes  to  utilize;  for  he  should  be  able  to  in- 
struct his  patients  in  its  fundamentals,  to  the  end 
that  he  may  be  filled  with  the  same  kind  and  quality 
of  faith  that  the  healer  possesses,  —  the  faith  born 
of  knowledge  of  the  law,  and  not  of  blind  credulity. 
Otherwise  he  would  enjoy  no  advantage  not  pos- 
sessed by  the  fetich  worshipper. 

I  shall,  therefore,  dwell  at  some  length  upon  the 
evidence  demonstrative  of  the  truth  of  each  of  the 


THE  DUPLEX  MENTAL   ORGANISM          53 

terms  of  our  hypothesis,  and  incidentally  upon  some 
of  the  practical  uses  of  the  law  in  affairs  of  every- 
day life. 

First,  then,  of  the  duplex  mental  organism. 

Every  one  who  has  had  a  dream  has  in  some 
measure  realized  the  duplex  character  of  his  own 
mind.  He  knows  that  the  brain  is  the  organ  of  the 
mind  of  ordinary  waking  consciousness;  but  he 
knows  that  in  sleep  the  brain  is  quiescent,  —  that,  in 
fact,  sleep  is  the  condition  in  which  that  organ  rests 
and  recuperates.  Yet  he  realizes  that  during  that 
period  of  brain  rest  there  is  a  mental  energy  in  evi- 
dence that  seems  to  act  independently  of  the  mind 
with  whose  normal  operations  he  is  acquainted.  He 
can  sometimes  trace  a  connection  between  his  wak- 
ing thoughts  and  his  dreams;  but  he  frequently 
realizes  that  the  latter  correspond  to  no  possible 
human  experience.  At  other  times  he  becomes  con- 
scious of  the  presence  of  a  mental  energy  which  far 
transcends  that  of  his  normal  experience  or  capac- 
ity,— a  mind  which  can  solve  mathematical  problems 
that  are  beyond  the  compass  of  his  normal  powers. 
Again  he  becomes  conscious  that  his  dream  intelli- 
gence is  filled  with  the  most  sublime  thoughts  and 
is  capable  of  clothing  them  in  the  most  beautiful  and 
appropriate  language,  —  language  that  is  far  beyond 
his  normal  linguistic  powers,  —  thoughts  which  were 
strangers  to  his  normal  consciousness.  Sometimes 
the  key  to  the  most  profound  secrets  of  nature  are 
thus  revealed  to  him,  and  are  thus  made  available 
for  normal  uses  and  practical  exploitation.  Again, 
dreams  often  reveal  an  apparent  independence,  on 
the  part  of  the  dream  intelligence,  of  the  space  and 


54          THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

time  limitations  with  which  one  is  normally  ac- 
quainted. Thus,  it  is  not  uncommon  for  one  to 
become  aware,  by  means  of  dreams,  of  what  is  hap- 
pening to  his  near  relatives  and  friends  who  are 
thousands  of  miles  distant,  with  no  possible  means 
of  communication  between  them  through  sensory 
channels.  He  thus  becomes  aware  that  his  dream 
intelligence  possesses  powers  and  facilities  for  re- 
ceiving and  cognizing  intelligence  from  others  not 
possessed  by  his  normal  intelligence. 

These  facts  alone  seem  to  point  to  the  theory  of 
duality  as  a  rational  solution  of  the  phenomena. 
But  when  we  consider  the  limitations  of  the  dream 
intelligence,  we  find  still  stronger  evidence  to  the 
same  effect.  Thus,  we  find  that  it  is  constantly 
amenable  to  control  by  suggestion.  This,  too,  is 
within  the  range  of  every  one's  experience.  Every- 
body is  aware  that  the  dream  intelligence  never 
realizes  the  incongruity  of  the  most  ridiculously  im- 
possible dream  situations.  No  fact  of  human  ex- 
perience weighs  one  hair  against  the  suggestions 
arising  from  the  sensations  caused  by  an  overloaded 
stomach.  Reason  abdicates  her  throne  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  vision  of  one's  grandmother  sporting 
seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  mounted  upon  a 
fiery  and  untamed  saw-horse.  The  dreamer  is 
neither  surprised  at  the  conduct  of  his  grandmother 
nor  at  the  character  of  her  mount,  and  he  never  sus- 
pects that  she  is  possessed  of  more  than  a  normal 
number  of  heads  and  horns. 

It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  the  dream  intelli- 
gence is  devoid  of  the  power  of  inductive  reason- 
ing, —  which  is  but  another  way  of  saying  that  it  is 


THE  DUPLEX  MENTAL   ORGANISM          55 

controlled  by  suggestion.  And  this  we  find  it  to 
be  to  a  very  remarkable  degree.  Thus,  in  a  case 
cited  by  Abercrombie,1  a  bottle  of  hot  water  at  the 
feet  of  the  dreamer  caused  him  to  dream  of  walk- 
ing on  the  warm  ground  near  the  crater  of  Mount 
./Etna.  Another,  whose  bed-clothes  were  acciden- 
tally thrown  off  during  the  night  in  a  cold  room, 
dreamed  of  spending  the  winter  at  Hudson's  Bay, 
and  of  suffering  much  from  the  intense  frost.2  It 
is  needless,  however,  to  multiply  cases,  as  few  are 
exempt  from  such  experiences. 

These  phenomena  can  be  accounted  for  on  no 
other  rational  hypothesis  than  that  of  duality  of 
mind.  Two  states  of  consciousness  are  certainly  in 
evidence;  and  the  phenomena  are  radically  differ- 
ent, each  from  the  other.  So  radical,  indeed,  are 
the  differences,  in  both  powers  and  limitations,  be- 
tween the  waking  and  the  dream  intelligences,  that 
we  are  justified  in  assuming,  for  the  purposes  of  a 
working  hypothesis,  that  there  are  two  separable, 
and  therefore  distinct,  intelligences  in  man's  mental 
organism.  That  there  is  a  nexus  between  the  two 
that  enables  them  to  act  in  perfect  synchronism 
when  occasion  requires,  is  necessarily  true.  It  is 
to  this  synchronism  of  action  that  we  are  indebted 
for  what  is  designated  as  "  genius."  It  is  also  in 
evidence  on  occasions  of  great  importance  to  the 
individual,  as  when  danger  is  imminent,  or  some 
great  crisis  is  impending.3 

1  Intellectual  Powers,  p.  216. 

2  Op.  cit.,  p.  216. 

8  For  a  full  discussion  of  these  subjects,  see  "  The  Law  of  Psychic 
Phenomena." 


$6  THE  LA  W  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

There  are  other  phenomena  of  dreams  of  great 
evidential  importance,  though  less  distinctly  pointing 
to  duality.  The  one  about  to  be  mentioned  exhib- 
its powers  of  inconceivably  rapid  mentation  pos- 
sessed by  the  dream  intelligence.  Dreams  that  are 
induced  by  percussive  sounds,  more  frequently  than 
any  others,  display  this  phenomenon  in  perfection. 
Thus,  Professor  Carpenter,  of  Boston,  relates  the 
following  illustrative  experience:  The  professor  was 
at  the  house  of  a  friend,  and  slept  in  a  bedroom 
the  door  of  which  opened  outward  into  the  hall. 
It  stood  open  during  the  night;  and  in  the  morn- 
ing some  one  opened  a  window  at  the  end  of  the 
hall,  letting  in  a  draught  of  air  that  shut  the  pro- 
fessor's door  with  great  violence.  He  instantly 
awoke,  —  so  quickly,  in  fact,  that  when  fully  awake 
he  realized  the  cause  of  the  concussion.  In  the 
meantime,  however,  he  dreamed  a  dream  the  events 
of  which  would  have  required  nearly  a  year  of 
time  in  the  happening.  It  was  during  the  prog- 
ress of  the  late  civil  war,  and  at  a  time  when  con- 
scription was  the  order  of  the  day.  He  dreamed 
that  the  dreaded  order  came,  and  his  name  was  on 
the  list.  He  tried  to  get  it  removed,  but  an  exami- 
nation demonstrated  his  eligibility;  and  when  the 
drawing  came  off,  his  name,  like  Abou  Ben  Adhem's, 
"  led  all  the  rest."  He  then  set  to  work  to  hire  a 
substitute.  But  the  fates  were  against  him.  When 
he  could  get  a  man,  he  could  not  raise  the  money; 
and  when  at  last  he  raised  the  money,  he  could  not 
find  an  eligible  man.  Finally,  he  was  hustled  into 
a  uniform  that  did  not  fit,  and  was  then  transported 
to  the  State  rendezvous,  where  he  spent  three  miser- 


THE  DUPLEX  MENTAL   ORGANISM          57 

able  months  in  drilling  in  the  awkward  squad.  At 
the  end  of  that  time  his  regiment  was  ordered  to 
Washington,  where  another  three  months  was  spent 
in  acquiring  a  military  education.  He  was  then 
ordered  to  the  front,  where  he  was  forced  to  endure 
the  hardships  of  camp  life  for  an  indefinite  period. 
In  the  midst  of  his  monotonous  misery  he  suddenly 
became  aware  that  he  was  in  the  hottest  part  of  a 
great  battle.  He  was  awakened  to  the  realization 
of  the  situation  by  the  sudden  firing  of  a  cannon, 
or  the  bursting  of  a  shell,  in  his  immediate  vicinity. 
It  was  the  slamming  of  the  door  that  awoke  him 
at  once  to  a  realization  of  his  objective  and  his  sub- 
jective surroundings. 

Abercrombie1  relates  a  similar  case  that  hap- 
pened in  Edinburgh  at  a  period  when  there  was  an 
alarm  of  French  invasion,  and  almost  every  man  in 
the  city  was  a  soldier.  All  things  had  been  ar- 
ranged in  expectation  of  the  landing  of  an  enemy; 
the  first  notice  of  which  was  to  be  given  by  a  gun 
from  the  castle.  The  gentleman  to  whom  the  dream 
occurred,  and  who  had  been  a  most  zealous  volun- 
teer, was  in  bed  between  two  and  three  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  when  he  dreamed  of  hearing  the  signal 
gun.  He  was  immediately  at  the  castle,  witnessed 
the  proceedings  for  displaying  the  signals  that  had 
been  planned  for  arousing  the  whole  surrounding 
country,  and  saw  and  heard  a  great  bustle  over  the 
town  from  troops  and  artillery  assembling,  espe- 
cially in  Princes  Street.  At  this  time  he  was  roused 
by  his  wife,  who  awoke  in  a  fright  caused  by  a 
similar  dream,  connected  with  much  noise  and  the 
1  Op.  cit.,  p.  217. 


58  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE  ~ 

landing  of  an  enemy.  The  origin  of  this  remark- 
able concurrence  was  ascertained,  in  the  morning, 
to  be  the  noise  produced  by  the  fall  of  a  pair  of 
tongs  upon  the  floor  above.1 

Many  similar  cases  are  related  by  the  old  psy- 
chologists, some  of  the  dreams  involving  years  of 
dream-time.  The  salient  features  of  this  class  of 
dreams,  to  which  attention  is  invited,  are,  first,  that 
the  sound  that  awakens  the  sleeper  is  identical  with 
the  sound  that  forms  the  culminating  feature  of  the 
dream.  This,  of  course,  involves  the  apparent  para- 
dox that  the  dream  commenced  after  it  ended.  The 
paradoxical  character  of  the  proposition  is,  how- 

1  The  first  question  that  will  naturally  be  asked  by  the  psychical 
researcher  will  be :  Were  these  concurrent  dreams  the  result  of 
telepathy  ?  The  answer  is :  Possibly,  but  not  necessarily.  It  is 
not  even  probable,  for  the  reason  that  both  were  anticipating  the 
signal  gun,  and  the  noise  that  caused  the  dreams  was  the  same. 
Identical  causes  will  always  produce  like  effects,  but  not  necessarily 
identical  in  detail ;  and  it  is  not  alleged  that  the  two  dreams  were 
identical  in  detail.  In  order  to  make  a  case  for  dream  telepathy  there 
should  be  no  common  cause,  antecedent  or  immediate.  An  illustrative 
case  came  within  the  writer's  experience.  The  salient  feature  of  his 
dream  was  that  he  saw  a  white-faced  ox  passing  through  a  narrow  lane 
and  entering  an  enclosure.  The  dream  was  very  vivid,  but  was  totally 
void  of  significance,  for  he  was  not  in  the  habit  of  thinking  of  cattle, 
much  less  of  possessing  any  interest  in  them,  and  had  not  consciously 
had  them  in  his  mind  for  years.  Judge  of  his  surprise  when  his  wife 
related  a  dream  the  next  morning  in  which  a  white-faced  ox,  passing 
through  a  narrow  lane  and  entering  an  enclosure,  was  the  salient  fea- 
ture. There  was  absolutely  no  assignable  cause,  near  or  remote,  for 
either  dream ;  and  yet  they  were  both  dreamed  the  same  night ;  and  a 
comparison  of  recollections  revealed  the  fact  that  the  dreams  were 
identical,  not  only  as  to  the  central  figure,  but  as  to  its  environmental 
details.  The  triviality  of  the  subject-matter  adds  to  its  evidential  value, 
for  it  is  thus  removed  as  far  as  possible  from  causes  involving  antici- 
pations, habits  of  thought,  emotional  excitation,  or  waking  thoughts 
immediately  antecedent.  ; 


THE  DUPLEX  MENTAL   ORGANISM  59 

ever,  at  once  removed  when  we  consider  the  pecul- 
iar powers  and  limitations  of  the  dream  intelligence, 
or  subjective  mind.  As  I  have  already  pointed  out, 
its  powers  of  induction  are  nil;  but  its  power  of 
correct,  logical  deduction  from  suggested  premises 
is  potentially  perfect.  It  is  obvious  that  both  sug- 
gestion and  subsequent  deduction  are  involved  in 
this  class  of  dreams.  The  sound  constitutes  the 
suggestion  that  a  gun  has  been  fired ;  and  from  this 
accepted  objective  fact  are  deduced,  in  their  order, 
all  its  antecedent  causes,  near  and  remote;  the 
dreamer's  habits  of  thought  in  reference  to  guns 
serving  to  give  the  trend  to  the  deductions.  Thus, 
the  sound  of  a  cannon  suggested  a  great  battle, 
which  was  immediately  in  evidence.  A  battle  sug- 
gested a  state  of  war  and  incidental  camp  life,  with 
its  accompanying  hardships.  Camp  life  suggested 
antecedent  drilling,  from  which,  in  turn,  were  de- 
duced the  rendezvous  at  the  National  Capital,  the 
State  rendezvous,  the  uniform,  the  conscription,  the 
efforts  to  avoid  it,  the  draft,  etc.,  back  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  story.  It  follows  that  such  dreams 
run  backward;  and  that  they  are,  therefore,  nothing 
but  a  series  of  deductions  from  a  series  of  sug- 
gested premises,  beginning  with  the  peripheral  stim- 
ulus (auditory)  which  set  the  train  in  motion.  It 
is,  indeed,  questionable  if  all  dreams  are  not  made 
up  of  series  of  deductions  backward  from  the  causal 
stimulus.  The  latter  necessarily  precedes  the  dream, 
as  when  the  removal  of  the  bed-clothes  on  a  cold 
night  causes  a  dream  of  a  whole  winter  spent  in  an 
arctic  climate.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  evident  that 
when  the  stimulus  lasts  but  an  instant,  and  begins 


60  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

where  the  dream  story  ends,  the  latter  must  neces- 
sarily consist  of  a  series  of  deductions  as  stated. 

The  point,  however,  to  which  especial  attention 
is  invited  is  the  inconceivable  rapidity  of  mentation 
involved  in  dreaming  a  year-long  dream,  including 
an  indefinite  number  of  details,  within  an  infinitesi- 
mal space  of  time.  Thus,  the  time  elapsing  between 
the  slamming  of  Professor  Carpenter's  door  and  his 
awakening  to  normal  consciousness  is  inappreciable 
to  the  objective  mind.  Yet  the  dream,  with  all  its 
details,  was  conceived  within  that  point  of  time  and 
strongly  impressed  upon  the  mind  of  waking  con- 
sciousness. It  is  obvious  that  when  the  two  ends  of 
a  dream  are  so  close  together  in  point  of  time,  the 
objective  mind,  handicapped  by  its  time  and  space 
limitations,  could  not  possibly  know  at  which  end 
it  commenced.  Naturally,  it  interprets  it  in  terms 
of  its  own  experience,  just  as  the  mind  sees  objects 
right  side  up,  although  the  images  cast  upon  the 
retina  of  the  eye  are  always  inverted. 

These  wonderful  powers  thus  found  to  exist  in- 
herent in  the  dream  intelligence,  together  with  its 
equally  wonderful  limitations,  are  in  such  marked 
contrast  with  those  of  normal  consciousness  that 
they  constitute  still  further  proofs  of  duality  of 
mind.  In  fact,  a  complete  analysis  of  the  various 
classes  of  the  phenomena  of  dreams  would  reveal 
ample  evidence  of  duality,  even  without  the  aid  of 
experimental  hypnotism.  With  that  aid  it  is  easy 
to  demonstrate  the  fact  that  for  all  practical  pur- 
poses it  is  a  safe  hypothesis.  Hypnotism,  for  pres- 
ent purposes,  may  be  considered  as  a  means  of 
stimulating  the  activity  of  the  dream  intelligence,  or 


THE  DUPLEX  MENTAL   ORGANISM         6l 

subjective  mind,  testing  its  powers  and  ascertain- 
ing its  limitations.  In  other  words,  hypnotism  is 
a  means  by  which  dreams  can  be  induced,  controlled, 
and  experimented  with.  It  is  to  the  human  soul 
what  the  scalpel  is  to  the  human  body.  It  is  the 
instrument  by  which  the  soul  can  be  dissected  and 
its  mysteries  explored  for  the  benefit  of  science.  As 
the  scalpel  in  unskilled  hands  may  be  made  an  in- 
strument of  destruction,  so  may  hypnotism  in  the 
hands  of  ignorance  or  charlatanism  be  made  the 
instrument  of  untold  evil  to  both  body  and  soul. 
In  the  hands  of  the  skilled  and  conscientious  scien- 
tist hypnotism  may  be,  and  has  been,  the  instrument 
of  scientific  investigation  of  the  problems  of  the 
human  soul.  It  has  rescued  psychology  from  the 
domain  of  speculative  philosophy  and  made  it  an 
experimental,  inductive  science.  It  has  invaded  the 
realms  of  superstition  and  destroyed  the  food  upon 
which  it  has  battened  throughout  all  the  ages  of  man- 
kind. It  has  done  this  by  revealing  man  to  himself. 

It  found  in  man  a  living  soul.  It  segregated  it 
from  its  objective  environment,  mental  and  physical, 
and  analyzed  its  powers  and  revealed  its  limitations ; 
and,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  it  found,  in  both  its 
powers  and  its  seeming  limitations,  indubitable  evi- 
dence of  its  divine  origin  1  and  of  its  immortality.2 

All  this  it  did  —  and  much  more  —  by  the  simple 
process  of  inducing  in  the  subject  a  profound  sleep, 
and  then  proceeding  to  experiment  with  that  won- 
derful intelligence  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  most 
familiarly  manifested  to  us  in  our  dreams.  Duality 

1  See  "  The  Divine  Pedigree  of  Man." 

a  See  "  A  Scientific  Demonstration  of  the  Future  Life." 


62 

was  thus  demonstrated  by  proving  that  the  highest 
distinctive  powers  of  each  mind  were  manifested 
only  when  the  powers  of  the  other  were  inhibited. 
Besides,  the  fact  that  they  are  segregable  at  all  is 
sufficient  evidence  of  duality,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
distinctive  powers  and  limitations  of  each.  It  is, 
in  fact,  only  by  means  of  these  distinctive  powers 
that  we  are  enabled  to  know  that  they  are  segre- 
gable, or  when  segregation  has  been  accomplished. 
That  is  to  say,  were  it  not  for  the  distinctive  powers, 
one  mind  or  state  of  consciousness  would  be  a  mere 
duplication  of  the  other,  differing,  perhaps,  in  de- 
grees of  power,  but  not  in  kind.  In  that  case  the 
trance  condition,  spontaneous  or  induced,  would  be 
a  mere  exaltation  of  the  objective  powers,  —  a 
hyperesthesia  of  the  physical  senses.  Braid,  in- 
deed, attempted  to  show  that  the  phenomena  of 
mind-reading  could  all  be  thus  accounted  for.  But 
later  as  well  as  earlier  experimentation  demonstrated 
the  contrary,  and  not  only  firmly  established  telepa- 
thy upon  a  scientific  basis,  but  definitely  located  the 
power  in  the  subjective  mind. 

This  wonderful  power,  together  with  others  not 
necessary  to  enumerate  in  this  connection,  served  to 
differentiate  the  two  minds  or  states  of  conscious- 
ness so  clearly  that  duality  became  a  hypothetical 
necessity.  And  what  is  true  of  the  distinctive  powers 
of  the  subjective  mind  may  be  repeated  with  multi- 
plied emphasis  with  reference  to  its  limitations.  Of 
these,  the  one  which  particularly  interests  the  stu- 
dent of  mental  therapeutics  is  its  constant  amena- 
bility to  control  by  the  subtle  power  of  suggestion. 
This  subject,  however,  must  be  reserved  for  treat- 


THE  DUPLEX  MENTAL  ORGANISM          63 

ment  in  subsequent  chapters.  It  is  sufficient  for 
present  purposes  to  note  the  fact  that  suggestibility, 
in  the  psychic  sense,  is  a  limitation  pertaining  ex- 
clusively to  the  subjective  mind.  The  objective 
mind  is  hedged  about  by  no  such  limitation,  nor  by 
anything  remotely  akin  to  it.  It  is  mentioned  here 
merely  as  one  of  the  psychological  discoveries  of 
experimental  hypnotism  which  swell  the  volume  of 
evidence  for  duality  of  mind. 

It  is  entirely  safe  to  say  that  not  one  fact  has  yet 
been  brought  to  light,  by  the  psychological  experts 
of  this  or  any  other  age,  that  disproves,  or  tends  to 
disprove,  the  fundamental  fact  of  the  dual  charac- 
ter of  man's  mental  organism.  It  is  equally  safe  to 
aver  that  there  is  not  one  fact  or  phenomenon  within 
the  whole  range  of  the  physical  sciences  that  dis- 
proves, or  tends  to  disprove,  the  fact  of  duality.  In 
one  of  my  former  works  1  I  collated  a  series  of  facts 
showing  that  experimental  surgery  had  demonstrated 
the  fact  of  duality.  In  another  work  2  I  brought  the 
undisputed  and  indisputable  facts  of  organic  evolu- 
tion to  bear  upon  the  same  subject  with  the  same 
result.  The  discussion  cannot  be  repeated  here  for 
obvious  reasons.  I  can  only  say,  in  conclusion  of 
this  branch  of  the  subject,  that  if  the  facts  of  psy- 
chology proper  fail  to  convince,  the  facts  of  the 
physical  sciences  demonstrate  the  essential  truth  of 
my  first  proposition,  —  that  man  is  endowed  with  a 
dual  mind,  objective  and  subjective. 

1  See  "  A  Scientific  Demonstration  of  the  Future  Life,"  chap.  xv. 
a  See   "  The  Divine  Pedigree  of  Man,"  part  i.,  "  Evolution  and 
Psychology." 


CHAPTER   V 
THE   LAW  OF  SUGGESTION   (HISTORICAL) 

A  Law  must  be  formulated  in  Terms  indicating  Universality  before  it 
can  be  made  available  for  Scientific  Purposes.  —  Antagonism  of 
Conservative  Science.  —  Opposition  to  Newton's  Discovery.  —  The 
Laws  of  Duality  of  Mind  and  of  Suggestion  dimly  perceived  for] 
Ages.  —  The  two  Laws  Necessary  Concomitants  of  each  other. — 
The  Recognition  of  their  Relation  a  Prerequisite  of  their  Formu- 
lation.—  Jesus  the  First  to  promulgate  the  Law  of  Mental  Healing. 
—  His  Declaration  of  the  Therapeutic  Potency  of  Faith  confirmed 
by  Modern  Science.  —  Braid's  Experiments  in  Hypnotism.  —  Lie- 
bault's  Discovery  of  the  Law  of  Suggestion.  —  This  Law  incomplete 
without  the  Law  of  Dual  Mind.  —  The  Importance  of  the  Law  of 
Suggestion  outside  the  Field  of  Therapeutics. 

IT  is  axiomatic  that  nature's  laws  are  of  compar- 
atively little  use  to  science,  as  means  for  the 
advancement  of  human  knowledge,  until  they  have 
been  formulated.  Formulation  presupposes  gener- 
alization, and  generalization  presumes  universality. 
This  presumption,  however,  is  subject  always  to 
further  investigation  and  to  consequent  disproof, 
and  it  is  disproved  when  an  exceptional  case  is  dis- 
covered; for  nature's  laws  are  immutable  and 
admit  of  no  exceptions.  If,  therefore,  it  is  found 
not  to  be  universal,  it  is  not  a  law,  and  all  conclu- 
sions based  upon  it  must  be  revised.  Nevertheless, 
a  universal  law  must  be  formulated  in  terms  indi- 
cating universality  before  it  can  be  made  generally 


65 

available  for  scientific  or  practical  uses.  It  may 
have  been  floating  around  loosely  in  human  con- 
sciousness for  ages,  and  it  may  have  been  found 
useful  in  specific  cases  by  an  indefinite  number  of 
individuals,  and  those  individuals  may  each  have 
formulated  a  law  applicable  to  his  own  field  of  re- 
search; yet  it  is  not  universally  available  until  some 
one  collates  the  different  classes  of  cases,  and  crys- 
tallizes the  thought  involved  into  a  concrete  form  of 
human  expression  indicative  of  universality. 

When  this  is  once  accomplished,  however,  —  such 
is  the  "  conservatism  of  science,"  or  the  perversity 
of  human  nature,  —  the  discovery  is  generally  des- 
tined to  encounter  three  successive  stages  of  oppo- 
sition. First,  it  is  met  by  a  universal  shout  of 
derision.  When  that  fails  to  disprove  it,  as  it  some- 
times does,  everybody  claims  it  as  his  own.  When 
that  is  disproved,  as  it  sometimes  is,  each  claimant 
proceeds  to  cover  himself  with  the  dust  of  old  libra- 
ries in  an  effort  to  prove  that  it  was  always  known. 

Newton  was  not  exempt  from  the  usual  course  of 
opposition.  His  discovery  was  derided  in  scientific 
circles;  he  was  encountered  by  rival  claimants;  vol- 
umes have  been  written  to  prove  that  there  is  no 
such  force  as  the  attraction  of  gravitation,  and  still 
others  to  prove  that  Newton  did  not  discover 
"  gravity,"  the  proof  being  that  the  term  had  been 
in  common  use  long  before  Newton  was  born. 
Nevertheless,  no  one  has  yet  succeeded  in  robbing 
Newton  of  the  credit  of  the  discovery  that  the 
force  which  the  world  has  consented  to  designate 
as  "  gravitation  "  acts  with  an  energy  proportioned 
directly  as  to  the  mass  and  inversely  as  to  the  square 

5 


66  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL   MEDICINE 

of  the  distance;  and  that  the  formula  is  as  appli- 
cable to  the  apple  which  falls  to  the  earth  as  it  is  to 
the  movements  of  the  planets.  Nor  is  the  lustre  of 
his  name  dimmed  in  the  slightest  degree  by  the 
fact  that  his  discovery  was  made  possible  only  by 
Kepler's  previous  discovery  of  the  laws  of  the  plane- 
tary orbits;  nor  by  the  fact  that  the  success  of  his 
work  finally  depended  upon  Picard's  correction  of 
the  old  measurement  of  a  degree  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face. All  great  discoveries  are  necessarily  the  re- 
sultants of  all  previous  subsidiary  discoveries. 

The  laws  of  duality  and  suggestion  furnish  strik- 
ing examples  of  laws  dimly  perceived  for  ages,  used 
by  many,  discovered  in  subsidiary  sections,  so  to 
speak,  and  finally  formulated  as  a  universal  law,  and 
thus  rendered  available  for  the  uses  of  all  mankind. 

The  great  factor  in  the  retardation  of  the  final 
establishment  of  the  two  laws  consisted  in  the  fact 
that  they  are  the  necessary  concomitants  of  each 
other.  That  is  to  say,  suggestion  is  necessary  to 
duality,  and  duality  is  indispensable  to  suggestion. 
In  other  words,  a  clear  conception  of  the  law  of 
suggestion,  as  it  manifested  itself  in  its  protean  as- 
pects, was  impossible  in  the  absence  of  the  theory 
of  duality;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  duality  was  in- 
conceivable in  the  absence  of  some  salient  point  of 
differentiation  between  the  hypothetical  two  minds 
or  states  of  consciousness ;  and  suggestion  furnished 
a  point  of  differentiation  so  clear  and  unmistakable 
that  duality  became  a  logical  as  well  as  a  psycho- 
logical necessity.  Necessarily,  until  this  concomitant 
interrelation  of  the  two  laws  was  clearly  perceived, 
and  they  were  formulated  together  as  necessary  parts 


THE  LAW  OF  SUGGESTION  67 

of  a  psychological  whole,  the  prevailing  ideas  on  the 
subject  were  chaotic  to  the  last  degree. 

Thus,  the  theory  of  duality  has  been  dimly  float- 
ing around  in  the  minds  of  various  philosophers, 
from  the  time  when  Greek  philosophy  ruled  the  in- 
tellectual world  until  the  present  age,  without  seri- 
ously affecting  the  trend  of  psychological  thought. 
The  phenomena  indicating  it  were,  of  course,  the 
same  as  they  are  now,  and  the  theory  was  often 
tentatively  advanced.  But  religious  thought  was 
apparently  hostile  to  it,  and  the  arguments  of  the 
Church  were  at  the  time  considered  unanswerable. 
Thus,  John  Locke,1  in  discussing  the  phenomena  of 
dreams,  puts  into  the  mouth  of  an  opponent,  real 
or  imaginary,  the  following  paragraph,  which  is 
now  known  to  be  substantially  true. 

"  Perhaps  it  will  be  said,"  says  Locke,  "  that  in 
a  waking  man  the  materials  of  the  body  are  em- 
ployed, and  made  use  of,  in  thinking;  and  that  the 
memory  of  thoughts  is  retained  by  the  impressions 
that  are  made  on  the  brain,  and  the  traces  there 
left  after  such  thinking;  but  that  in  the  thinking  of 
the  soul,  which  is  not  perceived  in  a  sleeping  man, 
there  the  soul  thinks  apart,  and  making  no  use  of 
the  organs  of  the  body,  leaves  no  impression  on  it, 
and  consequently  no  memory  of  such  thoughts." 

This  position  Mr.  Locke  strenuously  repudiates, 
declares  it  absurd,  and  proceeds  with  an  argument 
against  it  which,  in  turn,  cannot  now  be  character- 
ized by  any  milder  term  than  that  which  he  applied 
to  the  dual  hypothesis. 

1  Human  Understanding,  vol.  i.  book  ii.  chap.  i.  p.  86,  ed.  1884, 
London. 


68  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

The  history  of  the  dual  hypothesis,  however,  is  of 
little  interest  or  scientific  importance  compared  with 
that  of  the  slow  development  of  the  idea  which  culmi- 
nated in  the  formulation  of  the  law  of  suggestion. 

As  I  pointed  out  in  the  first  chapter,  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  was  the  first  to  give  authoritative  utter- 
ance to  that  divine  law  of  mental  healing  which  it 
has  taken  science  nineteen  hundred  years  to  redis- 
cover. Jesus  was  not  a  scientist,  in  the  modern 
sense  of  the  word,  and  he  did  not  attempt  to  teach 
his  followers  by  the  employment  of  scientific  terms. 
He  simply  told  them  the  truth  in  language  that  they 
could  comprehend;  and  when  he  stated  to  them  that 
"  faith  "  was  the  mental  attitude  essential  to  success- 
ful mental  healing,  he  epitomized  in  that  one  word 
the  whole  law  of  therapeutic  suggestion.  What  is 
the  essence  of  the  law  of  suggestion?  It  certainly 
does  not  consist  of  a  formula  built  up  of  words. 
Words  are  merely  the  vehicle  of  expression  by  which 
one  may  be  made  to  comprehend  the  law.  What, 
then,  is  the  central  idea  embraced  in  the  law  of  sug- 
gestion? It  is  simply  that  a  certain  belief,  to  wit, 
a  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  the  particular  therapeutic 
agency  at  hand,  has  a  therapeutic  potency.  This  is 
all  that  can  be  expressed  in  any  form  of  words ;  and 
the  word  "  faith,"  as  Jesus  employed  it,  conveyed 
the  central  idea  so  clearly  that  no  one  has  ever  mis- 
taken its  exact  meaning. 

Jesus  expressed  the  same  idea  in  different  words 
when  speaking  of  prayer:  "Therefore  I  say  unto  you, 
All  things  whatsoever  ye  pray  and  ask  for,  fygUfiYg  that 
ye  have  received  them,  and  ye  shall  have  them."  l 

i  Mark  xi.  24  (R.  V.). 


THE  LAW  OF  SUGGESTION  69 

Obviously  this  passage  cannot  be  construed  as 
referring  to  material  benefits,  for  that  would  de- 
grade it  into  a  manifest  absurdity;  and  the  Master 
never  uttered  absurdities.  Every  word  of  his  was 
pregnant  with  significance,  and  this  passage  is  espe- 
cially charged  therewith.  Let  us  analyze  it. 

It  is  self-evident,  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
blessings  referred  to  as  conditionally  awaiting  the 
suppliant  must  be  either  spiritual  or  therapeutic 
blessings,  or  both.  They  are  certainly  such  as  reach 
the  suppliant  through  the  mind;  for  their  realiza- 
tion is  distinctly  conditioned  upon  a  certain  definite 
mental  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  suppliant.  That 
condition  is  simply  belief,  —  otherwise,  faith.  The 
passage,  therefore,  is  simply  another  way  of  reiter- 
ating his  doctrine  that  faith  is  the  one  essential  con- 
dition precedent  to  the  realization  of  benefits  that 
reach  the  individual  through  the  mind.  It  is  an- 
other way  of  saying  that  "  the  prayer  of  faith  shall 
be  answered."  Moreover,  it  distinctly  excludes  the 
idea  that  material  benefits,  such  as  houses,  lands,  or 
money,  may  thus  be  attained  through  prayer;  for, 
obviously,  no  attitude  of  mind  is  capable,  per  se, 
of  producing  a  house  and  lot  or  a  herd  of  cattle. 
It  also  excludes  the  idea  of  special,  miraculous  in- 
tervention in  answer  to  prayer;  for  the  conditions 
pertain  exclusively  to  the  mental  attitude  of  the  sup- 
pliant. But  it  does  not  exclude  the  implication  that 
prayer  is  an  effective  therapeutic  agent. 

It  must  suffice  to  note  the  fact,  in  this  connection, 
that  Jesus  evinced  a  clear  comprehension  of  the  cen- 
tral idea  involved  in  the  law  of  suggestion,  and  in- 
sistently proclaimed  it  on  every  suitable  occasion. 


70  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

That  it  was  practically  lost  to  science  for  more 
than  eighteen  hundred  years,  was  due  to  the  preva- 
lent materialistic  skepticism.  That  it  was  not  wholly 
lost  is  due  to  the  vitality  of  truth.  The  words  of 
the  Master  were,  in  fact,  never  wholly  lost  to  view, 
even  by  scientists ;  and  the  principle  has  often  found 
a  partial  expression  by  scientists  who  sought  to 
conceal  the  origin  of  their  ideas  by  coining  a  new 
terminology.  Thus,  the •"  expectant  attention"  of 
Carpenter  was  hailed  as  a  triumph  of  science,  and 
figured  largely  in  its  vocabulary  for  many  years, 
although  it  was  a  mere  substitute  for  the  word 
"  faith,"  and  accounted  for  the  same  phenomena. 
"  Imagination  "  is  another  word  that  has  performed 
yeoman's  service  in  the  vocabulary  of  science.  It 
has  been  invoked,  "  time  whereof  the  memory  of 
man  runneth  not  to  the  contrary,"  to  account  "  sci- 
entifically "  for  cures  effected  without  the  use  of 
material  remedies,  and  then  dismissed  with  lofty 
contempt,  as  a  subject  unworthy  of  the  attention  of 
science.  Thus  the  French  Academy,  in  its  report 
on  Mesmerism,  admitted  that  marvellous  cures  had 
been  effected,  but  learnedly  attributed  the  result 
to  "  imagination,"  and  thus  dismissed  the  subject 
as  unworthy  the  further  attention  of  science.  Ob- 
viously, the  word  was  a  mere  substitute  for  that 
employed  by  the  Master;  and  a  very  awkward  sub- 
stitute it  was. 

The  employment  of  the  term  "  suggestion,"  on 
the  other  hand,  is  not  a  substitution  of  one  term  for 
another,  each  being  descriptive  of  a  definite  mental 
condition.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  tacit  recognition 
of  the  fact  that  faith  is  the  essential  condition,  and 


THE  LAW  OF  SUGGESTION  ^l 

the  term  itself  is  merely  descriptive  of  the  process 
necessary  to. induce  that  condition.  As  such,  it  was 
a  distinct  advance  in  psychic  science,  even  when  the 
law  was  first  formulated  as  pertaining  solely  to  hyp- 
notism. Its  principal  value,  however,  consisted  in 
that  it  was  the  beginning  of  the  mental  process  by 
which  the  idea  finally  became  crystallized  into  a  for- 
mula expressive  of  a  universal  law.  To  Liebault, 
of  Nancy,  belongs  the  credit  of  taking  this  first  dis- 
tinctive step,  leading  to  the  discovery  of  its  univer- 
sality. The  credit  has  been  assigned  to  Braid,  of 
Manchester,  notably  by  Bernheim,1  of  Nancy,  who 
was  himself  indebted  to  Liebault  for  all  that  he 
knew  of  hypnotism.  It  is  true  that  the  world  is 
much  indebted  to  Braid,  first,  for  making  hypnotism 
respectable  by  giving  it  a  name,  secondly,  by  invent- 
ing a  new  method  of  inducing  the  condition,  and 
thirdly,  by  making  a  series  of  experiments  illustra- 
tive of  the  suggestibility  of  hypnotized  persons. 
But  it  does  not  seem  that  he  did  more  than  show 
that  the  faith  requisite  for  successful  mental  healing 
could  be  induced  in  a  patient's  mind  by  any  kind  of 
statement,  true  or  false,  provided  the  hypnotic  con- 
dition could  be  first  induced.  But  Paracelsus  made  a 
broader  discovery  than  that  three  hundred  years  be- 
fore Braid  was  born ;  for  he  distinctly  intimated  that 
a  false  belief,2  however  induced,  is  just  as  efficacious 
for  therapeutic  purposes  as  a  true  one,  —  "  faith  " 
being  the  sole  condition  precedent;  and  Pompo- 
nazzi,3  in  the  sixteenth  century,  gave  utterance  to 

1  See  "Suggestive  Therapeutics." 

1  See  "The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena,"  pp.  147,  148. 

'  Op.  cit. 


72  THE  LA  W  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

expressions  of  identical  import.  Neither  of  these 
old  writers,  of  course,  knew  anything  of  hypnotism; 
but  they  knew  what  Braid  did  not  know,  namely, 
that  the  therapeutic  effect  of  faith  is  not  limited  by 
methods  of  inducing  it,  much  less  by  abnormal  psy- 
chical conditions. 

But  even  after  the  law  had  been  formulated  by 
Liebault,  the  mystery  surrounding  mental  therapeu- 
tics was  not  dispelled.  It  was  simply  shifted  to  an- 
other point  of  view  without  increasing  the  light.  Up 
to  that  time  hypnotism,  per  se,  was  supposed  to  be, 
in  some  mysterious  way,  the  curative  agent.  When 
asked  for  an  explanation  of  its  therapeutic  potency, 
the  only  reply  elicited  was  that  it  was  hypnotism  that 
did  the  work.  In  this  respect  they  were  far  behind 
the  mesmerists,  for  they  at  least  had  a  working 
hypothesis.  Right  or  wrong,  they  had  a  theory  of 
causation  that  had  many  facts  to  support  it.  Ani- 
mal magnetism,  or  the  theory  of  fluidic  emanations 
from  the  healer,  impinging  upon  the  patient,  had  at 
least  the  merit  of  a  valid  working  hypothesis.  This 
hypothetical  fluid,  it  was  held,  by  its  mysterious  in- 
fluence upon  the  vital  principle,  re-established  func- 
tional harmony;  and  the  logic  of  analogy  was 
invoked  in  a  comparison  of  its  methods  and  its 
benefits  to  those  of  light,  heat,  and  electricity.  But 
"  science  "  rejected  the  theory  with  hysterical  indig- 
nation, and  persistently  denied  the  phenomena  until 
Braid  showed  that  he  could  reproduce  a  small  part 
of  the  phenomena  by  processes  that  excluded  the 
fluidic  theory.  But  his  master  stroke  consisted  in 
giving  it  a  new  name  which  implied  no  theory  of 
causation  except  that  of  sleep.  This  at  once  placed 


THE  LAW  OF  SUGGESTION  73 

the  whole  subject  upon  "  a  scientific  basis;  "  for  not 
only  was  the  name  borrowed  from  the  Greek,  but  it 
implied  no  theory  of  causation  beyond  what  was 
tangible  to  the  senses.  The  patients  slept,  and  were 
cured,  and  that  was  all  there  was  of  it.  And  so  it 
remained  for  about  forty  years,  when  Liebault  for- 
mulated the  theory  of  suggestion.  This  was  resisted 
for  a  time  by  rival  schools,  but  its  truth  was  so  obvi- 
ous and  so  easily  demonstrable  that  its  opponents 
were  at  last  forced  to  yield.  This,  of  course,  sup- 
plied a  long-felt  want,  namely,  a  theory  of  causation 
for  hypnotic  phenomena;  and  again  hypnotism  was 
placed  upon  a  "  firm  scientific  basis." 

But  this,  in  turn,  was  unsatisfactory  to  the  rigidly 
scientific  mind  and  conscience.  It  was  an  explana- 
tion that  did  not  explain.  It  simply  removed  the 
explanation  one  step  farther  back,  and  thereby  deep- 
ened the  mystery. 

It  is  undeniable  that  in  suggestion  a  mental  process 
is  found  for  inducing  in  the  patient  the  prerequisite 
mental  condition  for  healing  him,  namely,  faith.  But 
it  is  obvious  that  it  is  not  the  suggestion  itself  that 
does  the  healing,  although  we  are  frequently  given 
to  understand  that  it  is.  To  read  a  work  of  the 
early  suggestive  therapeutists,  one  would  imagine 
that  "  suggestion  "  was  an  entity  that  does  things. 
Hence  we  are  told  that  suggestion  does  this  and  does 
that;  and  that  is  all  the  explanation  they  are  able 
to  give  of  the  science  of  mental  healing.  In  other 
words,  the  rationale  of  suggestion  is  not  in  evi- 
dence in  their  working  hypothesis.  Nevertheless, 
it  has  done,  and  is  still  doing,  a  great  work;  and 
it  constituted  a  gigantic  stride  in  the  evolution 


74  THE  LA  W  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

of  experimental  psychology  as  applied  to  mental 
medicine. 

But,  as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  it  required 
the  theory  of  the  dual  mind  to  complete  the  work- 
ing hypothesis  for  mental  healing.  Under  no  other 
theory,  or  possible  theory,  can  it  be  explained  why 
a  suggestion  is  able  to  induce  the  requisite  mental 
condition.  To  say  that  it  works  its  results  by  "  ex- 
citing the  imagination  of  the  patient "  is  to  employ 
a  phrase  of  indefinite  meaning  where  an  intelligent 
entity  is  indicated.  A  suggestion  is  a  statement 
made  by  one  intelligent  being  to  another  presuma- 
bly intelligent  being;  otherwise  it  could  produce  no 
result,  physical  or  mental.  A  therapeutic  sugges- 
tion, in  order  to  be  effective,  must  be  a  statement 
addressed  to  an  intelligence  whose  faith  can  be  stim- 
ulated, and  who  possesses  the  power  to  carry  the 
suggestion  into  effect.  Such  an  intelligence  is  found 
in  the  subjective  mind  of  man.  In  short,  the  "  vital 
principle  "  of  which  scientists  in  all  ages  have  dis- 
coursed so  learnedly,  is  an  intelligent  entity,  —  or 
at  least  an  organized  intelligence,  —  controllable  by 
suggestion,  and  invested  with  full  power  to  control 
the  vital  functions. 

That  this  is  true  is  attested  by  all  the  facts  of 
psychological  science  pertaining  to  the  subject-mat- 
ter. Not  one  fact  of  either  mental  or  physical 
science  militates  against  it.  I  submit,  therefore, 
that,  if  true,  the  dual  theory  is  another  step  in  ad- 
vance toward  placing  mental  medicine  upon  a  scien- 
tific basis,  in  that  it  shows  why  suggestion  is  an 
effective  agency  in  the  cure  of  disease. 

But   another   step   is   required   before   suggestive 


THE  LAW   OF  SUGGESTION  75 

therapeutics  can  be  truly  said  to  be  invested  with 
the  dignity  of  a  science.  It  still  remains  to  show 
how  the  subjective  intelligence  is  enabled  to  produce 
its  wonderful  therapeutic  results.  Of  course,  this 
can  be  done  only  approximately,  by  showing  that 
the  necessary  and  appropriate  machinery  exists,  in 
all  sentient  organisms  for  that  purpose.  I  have  al- 
ready hinted  at  the  subject;  but  a  full  discussion 
of  it  must  be  reserved  until  the  third  term  of  our 
therapeutic  formula  is  reached  in  its  order. 

In  the  meantime  enough  has  been  said  to  justify 
provisionally  the  broad  generalization  of  the  law 
of  suggestion  embraced  in  the  second  term  of  our 
formula,  namely,  that  "  the  subjective  mind  is  con- 
stantly amenable  to  control  by  the  power  of  sugges- 
tion," and  this  without  reference  to  the  states  or 
conditions,  hypnotic  or  otherwise,  of  the  objective 
mind. 

Let  me  make  myself  clear  upon  this  point,  for  its 
practical  significance  is  as  broad  as  the  realm  of 
human  intelligence.  Bernheim,  in  pursuance  of  the 
then  prevailing  theory  limiting  the  scope  of  the  law 
of  suggestion  to  definite  pre-existent  states  or  con- 
ditions, defines  hypnotism  as  "  the  induction  of  a 
peculiar  psychical  condition  which  increases  the  sus- 
ceptibility to  suggestion."1  (The  italics  are  mine.) 
He  had  previously  noted  that  certain  persons  were  sus- 
ceptible of  suggestion  in  their  apparently  normal  state, 
to  a  more  or  less  limited  extent;  and  he  also  knew 
that  hypnotized  persons  are,  as  a  rule,  more  easily 
controlled  by  suggestion  than  they  are  in  a  normal 
state.  Hence  his  apparently  correct  conclusion  that 

1  Suggestive  Therapeutics,  p.  15. 


76          THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

hypnotism  merely  increases  the  susceptibility  to  sug- 
gestion. But  therein  lurks  a  fundamental  error,  for 
it  implies  a  limitation  that  does  not  exist.  It  would 
be  more  exact  and  truthful  to  define  hypnotism  as 
"  the  induction  of  a  peculiar  psychical  condition 
which  "  releases  the  subjective  mind  from  the  domi- 
nance of  adverse  auto-suggestions. 

The  subjective  mind  is  "  constantly  "  controllable, 
and  controlled,  by  suggestions,  coming  either  from 
without  or  from  within,  the  latter  arising  from  habits 
of  thought,  or  settled  principles,  or  convictions,  or 
prejudices,  as  I  have  pointed  out  in  previous  chap- 
ters. They  are  termed  auto-suggestions,  or  self-sug- 
gestions, and  they  often  prevail  against  suggestions 
from  others.  As  in  all  other  contending  forces  of 
nature,  the  stronger  necessarily  prevails.  Obviously 
it  was  the  lack  of  a  clear  conception  of  this  funda- 
mental principle  that  led  the  Liebault-Bernheim  school 
of  suggestionists  to  assume  limitations  to  the  law  of 
suggestion,  or,  what  was  equally  unscientific,  to  im- 
agine that  there  can  be  exceptions  to  a  law  of  nature. 

It  must  be  said  in  extenuation,  however,  that  when 
they  began  their  investigations  the  prevailing  ideas 
were  in  a  chaotic  state;  and  further,  that,  for  the 
mere  purposes  of  practical  therapeutics,  the  hypothe- 
sis, as  they  formulated  it,  was  sufficiently  near  the 
truth  to  give  them  the  machinery  of  suggestion  to 
work  with. 

On  the  other  hand,  now  that  it  is  known  to  be  a 
universal  law  of  the  subjective  mind,  it  is  at  once 
seen  that  its  field  of  usefulness  is  as  wide  as  the 
domain  of  human  thought;  and  that,  of  all  the  laws 
of  the  human  soul,  the  law  of  suggestion  is  the  most 


THE  LAW  OF  SUGGESTION  '  7/ 

important,  so  long  as  it  inhabits  the  mortal  body. 
I  have  elsewhere *  shown  that  amenability  to  sug- 
gestion is  a  limitation  pertaining  solely  to  this  life, 
and  that  in  the  future  life  it  is  no  longer  in  evidence, 
the  soul  being  endowed  with  the  Godlike  power  of 
intuitive  perception  of  all  truth  pertaining  to  its  well- 
being  and  its  stage  of  development.  I  cannot  repeat 
the  discussion  here  for  obvious  reasons.  It  must  suf- 
fice, in  this  connection,  to  point  out  some  of  its  uses 
in  this  life  outside  the  domain  of  mental  therapeu- 
tics. Nor  will  the  intelligent  reader  be  surprised 
when  he  is  told  that  the  law  of  suggestion  is  a  factor 
of  equal  importance  in  every  other  field  of  human 
activity.  For  instance,  it  is  the  one  all-important 
factor  in  the  education  and  development  of  children, 
morally  as  well  as  intellectually.  As  in  mental  thera- 
peutics, it  has  been  ignorantly  employed  throughout 
all  the  ages,  and  its  variant  effects  have  resulted 
from  the  accidents  of  environmental  conditions,  and 
not  from  a  knowledge  of  the  law  itself,  —  in  igno- 
rance, in  fact,  of  its  existence.  Nevertheless,  the 
law  existed  from  the  very  beginning  of  sentient  life, 
and  it  has  performed  its  mission  as  a  civilizing  agent 
in  all  the  variant  stages  of  human  development.  As 
in  mental  therapeutics,  it  is  adapted  to  all  conditions, 
and  performs  its  humanizing  mission  in  spite  of 
ignorance  and  superstition.  But,  again  as  in  mental 
therapeutics,  certainty  and  permanency  of  results  can 
be  achieved  only  when  man  understands  the  law  and 
intelligently  applies  it  to  its  legitimate  uses.  When 
that  knowledge  is  attained,  every  mother  will  have 
in  her  own  hands  an  easy  and  absolutely  certain 

1  See  "  A  Scientific  Demonstration  of  the  Future  Life." 


78  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

means  of  controlling  the  energies  of  her  children 
and  directing  them  into  whatever  channels  of  activ- 
ity she  may  elect.  It  is  axiomatic  that  "  knowledge 
is  power,"  and  "  know  thyself "  is  a  time-honored 
injunction  to  mankind.  Combining  them,  it  may  be 
truly  said  that  to  "  know  thyself "  is  the  certain 
means  of  obtaining  power  and  dominion  over  others. 
Without  unduly  anticipating  what  is  to  be  said  in 
future  chapters  of  this  book,  it  may  be  said  that 
when  the  parent  is  armed  with  a  knowledge  of  the 
law  of  suggestion  he  is  possessed  of  the  means,  not 
only  of  directing  and  controlling  the  general  educa- 
tion of  his  children,  but  of  directing  the  moral  trend, 
anticipating  bad  habits  or  curing  them  when  formed, 
removing  undesirable  or  vicious  traits  of  character, 
inspiring  industry  and  ambition,  and  even  of  remov- 
ing or  neutralizing  the  mental  or  moral  obliquities 
due  to  heredity. 

Nor  are  the  mental  and  moral  effects  of  sugges- 
tion confined  to  the  young;  for  adult  criminals  may 
thus  be  reformed  and  restored  to  usefulness,  although 
with  less  certainty  of  immediate  results.  Bad  habits 
may  be  eradicated  in  the  adult,  as  well  as  in  the  child, 
by  the  judicious  employment  of  suggestion.  Other 
things  being  equal,  the  effect  is  the  same. 

Nor  is  this  all ;  for  good  suggestions,  of  whatever 
character  they  may  be,  or  to  whomsoever  they  may 
be  addressed,  invariably  react  upon  the  character  of 
the  suggester.  It  is  impossible  for  one  to  suggest 
moral  principles  to  another  without  being  morally 
benefited  himself.  It  is  impossible  for  one  to  be  a 
drunkard  when  he  is  employing  suggestion  for  the 
eradication  of  drinking  habits  in  another.  I  have 


THE  LAW  OF  SUGGESTION  79 

known  men  to  be  utterly  unable  to  bear  the  smell  or 
taste  of  liquor  after  making  a  series  of  strong  and 
vigorous  suggestions  to  a  drunkard  that  the  taste  or 
smell  of  liquor  would  thereafter  make  him  sick.  I 
knew  one  —  a  moderate  but  habitual  user  of  intoxi- 
cants —  to  be  made  violently  ill  by  taking  a  small 
drink  of  whiskey  after  making  such  a  series  of  sug- 
gestions to  a  drunkard.  This  occurred  to  him  three 
times  in  succession  before  he  divined  the  cause.  He 
was  an  amateur  suggestionist,  and  not  well  grounded 
in  the  principles  of  the  science  he  was  practising. 
Otherwise  he  would  have  known  that  under  the  law 
of  duality  an  auto-suggestion  is  as  effective  as  a  sug- 
gestion from  another.  The  objective  mind  suggests, 
and  the  subjective  mind  accepts  and  believes  the  sug- 
gestion and  performs  its  functions  accordingly.  In 
other  words,  it  takes  note  of  the  suggestion  made  to 
another  as  to  the  effect  of  liquor  upon  him,  and  with 
the  inexorable  deductive  logic  of  the  subjective  mind, 
it  deduces  the  conclusion  that  the  taste  of  liquor  will 
make  anybody  sick. 

I  have  known  several  hypnotists  who  lost  their 
former  drinking  capacity  after  treating  others  for 
the  eradication  of  the  habit.  Some  of  them  realized 
the  reason,  and  some  did  not  —  which  is  but  another 
way  of  saying  that  some  knew  less  than  others  about 
the  intricate  workings  of  the  law  of  suggestion.  I 
have,  in  fact,  never  known  one  who  has  been  able  to 
retain  his  capacity  to  drink  liquor,  even  moderately, 
after  treating  others  for  the  habit  of  drunkenness, 
without  a  determined  effort  to  do  so,  —  that  is  to 
say,  by  resorting  to  a  course  of  .vigorous  auto- 
suggestions. 


80  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  auto-suggestions  are  as 
effective  for  the  eradication  of  bad  habits  as  are  the 
suggestions  of  others;  and  I  unhesitatingly  affirm 
that  any  one  can  thus  relieve  himself  of  any  habit 
he  sincerely  desires  to  get  rid  of.  But  it  often  hap- 
pens that  the  patient  has  no  real  desire  to  be  rid  of 
his  habit;  and  this  constitutes  an  adverse  auto-sug- 
gestion which  necessarily  defeats  the  object.  The 
same  remark  applies  to  all  suggestions  for  the  eradi- 
cation of  habits,  from  whatever  source  they  may 
emanate. 

This,  however,  is  a  slight  digression.  The  point 
which  it  is  desired  to  enforce  is  that  all  suggestions 
to  a  patient  react  upon  the  one  who  makes  the  sug- 
gestion. As  has  been  before  remarked,  action  and 
reaction  are  always  equal;  and  the  principle  is  as 
true  of  mental  as  of  physical  energy.  As  the  teacher 
is  benefited  by  fixing  the  lesson  taught  more  firmly 
in  his  own  mind,  so  is  a  suggestion,  moral  or  thera- 
peutical, beneficial  to  him  who  makes  it.  Like  the 
quality  of  mercy,  "it  is  twice  blessed ;  it  blesseth 
him  that  gives  and  him  that  take.s." 


CHAPTER   VI 

SUGGESTION   IN   LOWER  ANIMAL  LIFE 

Evidence  for  the  Laws  of  Duality  of  Mind  and  of  Suggestion  must  be 
found  in  Lower  Animals.  —  The  Subjective  the  Primordial  Mind. — 
The  Brain  a  Product  of  Evolution.  —  The  Subjective  the  Mind  of 
Instinct  and  Intuition.  —  Necessity  for  Secondary  Instincts.  —  In- 
duction in  Lower  Animals.  —  Secondary  Instincts  created  by  the 
Objective  Mind.  —  The  Mental  Processes  Involved.  —  All  Evolu- 
tionary Development  of  Animal  Intelligence  due  to  Suggestion. — 
The  Law  of  Suggestion  an  Essential  Factor  in  the  Progress  of 
Civilization.  —  It  is  the  One  Available  Means  whereby  Man  may 
neutralize  the  Evils  due  to  Heredity. 

IF  the  most  rigid  adherent  to  the  strictest  rules 
of  scientific,  inductive  investigation  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  nature  were  to  be  asked  to  name  the  kind 
and  amount  of  evidence  necessary  to  demonstrate 
scientifically  the  truth  of  the  proposition  that  amena- 
bility to  suggestion  is  a  universal  limitation  of  the 
subjective  mind,  he  would  doubtless  reply  that  it  must 
be  clearly  shown  that  the  law  embraces  the  lower  ani- 
mals, and  that  no  amount  of  research  or  quality  of 
evidence  that  did  not  include  the  lower  animals 
could  possibly  establish  so  broad  a  generalization, 
no  matter  how  strong  the  evidence  might  be  that  it 
is  a  universal  limitation  of  man's  subjective  powers. 
Otherwise  it  might  eventually  be  found  to  be  a 
phenomenon  incident  alone  to  the  environmental 
conditions  with  which  man  is  surrounded,  and  not 
a  universal  law  of  the  subjective  mind.  In  other 


82          THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

words,  if  it  is  a  universal  law  of  the  subjective  mind 
it  must  apply  to  all  subjective  minds,  of  whatever 
grade  of  intelligence.  It  follows  that  if  it  cannot 
be  shown  that  animals  are  subject  to  the  law  of  sug- 
gestion in  precisely  the  same  way  that  man  is,  the 
idea  that  it  is  a  universal  law  must  be  abandoned. 
On  the  other  hand,  our  most  rigid  scientist  would 
admit  that  if  it  can  be  shown  that,  allowing  for  the 
difference  in  the  grade  of  intelligence,  the  law  applies 
to  the  lower  animals  the  same  as  it  does  to  the  human 
species,  it  can  be  fairly  claimed  that  the  universality 
of  the  law  of  suggestion  has  been  demonstrated  as 
clearly  as  any  psychological  proposition  is  demon- 
strable. The  same  remark  applies  to  the  law  of 
duality.  In  fact,  since  duality  and  suggestion  are 
correlative  propositions,  as  I  have  already  pointed 
out,  they  must  stand  or  fall  together,  from  whatever 
point  of  view  they  may  be  considered. 

The  first  question,  then,  to  be  determined  is,  What 
evidence  exists  to  show  duality  in  the  mental  organ- 
ism of  the  lower  animals;  or,  in  other  words,  what 
evidence  exists  to  show  that  they  are  endowed  with 
the  subjective  mind  as  distinguished  from  the  objec- 
tive mind?  To  this  the  broad  answer  must  be  re- 
turned, provisionally,  that  all  the  facts  of  organic 
evolution,  physical  and  mental,  conspire  to  demon- 
strate the  proposition.  The  scientific  evolutionist 
will  at  once  admit  that  duality  in  man  presupposes 
the  same  in  his  earthly  ancestors.  If  man  is  de- 
scended from  the  lower  animals,  —  and  no  scientist 
now  pretends  to  doubt  the  truth  of  that  proposition, 
—  it  necessarily  follows  that  all  the  salient  charac- 
teristics of  man's  mental  organism  exist,  in  embryo, 


SUGGESTION  IN  LOWER  ANIMAL  LIFE       83 

in  that  of  his  humble  progenitors.  Besides,  it  is  a 
time-worn  proposition  of  evolutionary  science  that 
the  potentialities  of  manhood  reside  in  the  lowest 
unicellular  organism. 

In  point  of  fact,  the  most  conclusive  evidence  of 
the  existence  of  a  subjective  mind  —  and  conse- 
quently of  duality  —  is  found  in  the  lower  animals, 
from  the  moneron  to  man;  for  in  tracing  the  an- 
cestry of  man  backward  to  the  first  manifestation 
of  life  and  mind  in  unorganized  (Haeckel)  proto- 
plasm (the  monera),  we  find  that  the  subjective 
mind  antedated  the  objective  mind  by  untold  mil- 
lions of  years.  Haeckel  tells  us  that  during  more 
than  one  half  of  all  the  millions  of  years  that  have 
elapsed  since  the  beginning  of  organic  life  on  this 
planet,  no  animal  possessing  a  brain  was  in  exist- 
ence. It  follows  that  the  brain  is  a  product  of  or- 
ganic evolution.  Like  every  other  physical  organ, 
it  was  evolved  in  response  to  a  necessity, — to  supply 
a  long-felt  want,  to  serve  a  purpose  for  which  the 
subjective  mind  was  not  adapted.  The  latter  is  the 
mind  of  instinct  in  the  lower  animals,  the  mind  of 
intuition  in  man,  —  which  is  a  distinction  without  a 
real  difference  in  function.  The  primary  instincts 
with  which  it  was  endowed  were  sufficient  for  the 
ordinary  purposes  of  animal  life  in  its  native  en- 
vironment; but  as  animals  grew  in  number  and 
variety,  environmental  conditions  were  constantly 
changing,  and  new  or  secondary  instincts  were  re- 
quired to  enable  the  animals  to  adapt  themselves  to 
new  environments.  All  biologists *  agree  that  ani- 

1  See  quotations  from  Darwin,  Romanes,  and  others,  in  "The 
Divine  Pedigree  of  Man,"  where  this  subject  is  more  fully  elucidated. 


84          THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

mals  require  secondary  instincts,  that  is,  new  in- 
stincts, for  this  purpose,  and  that  they  acquire  them 
by  a  definite  process;  that  is  to  say,  they  first  meet 
the  new  conditions,  wants,  dangers,  etc.  "  intelli- 
gently," and  after  the  new  habits  thus  acquired  have 
been  practised  for  several  generations,  these  habits 
become  crystallized  into  instincts,  and  are  thencefor- 
ward inherited  the  same  as  the  primary  instincts.  It 
will  thus  be  seen  that  they  tacitly  admit  that  there  are 
two  grades  or  kinds  of  intelligence  in  evidence  even 
in  the  lower  animals,  namely,  instinctive  intelligence, 
and  the  other  kind,  which  they  do  not  name.  But, 
as  I  have  shown  elsewhere,1  they  are  hopelessly  at 
sea  as  to  when  this  new  intelligence,  which  is  thus 
able  to  cope  with  new  environments  and  to  educate 
the  instinctive  intelligence,  came  into  existence,  and 
how  it  performs  its  functions;  in  other  words,  they 
are  hopelessly  at  variance  as  to  when  animals  began 
to  reason. 

The  dual  hypothesis,  however,  renders  a  solution 
of  these  problems  perfectly  obvious,  for  we  have 
only  to  refer  to  the  facts  of  experience  to  enable  us 
to  find  it.  Thus,  we  know  that  the  brain  is  the 
organ  of  the  reasoning  mind;  that  that  mind  alone 
is  endowed  with  inductive  powers,  and  that  it  is 
only  by  the  exercise  of  these  powers  that  we  are 
enabled  to  cope  with  the  constantly  changing  en- 
vironmental conditions  of  physical  life.  We  know 
that  the  greater  our  inductive  powers  are,  the  more 
perfectly  we  are  armed  for  the  "  struggle  for  life," 
—  which  is  a  struggle  to  overcome  or  adapt  our- 
selves to  adverse  environmental  conditions;  and  we 

1  Op.  cit 


SUGGESTION  IN  LOWER  ANIMAL  LIFE      85 

know  that  in  the  entire  absence  of  these  powers  we 
should  be  as  helpless  as  the  amoebae.  We  know, 
therefore,  that  the  mind  of  which  the  brain  is  the 
organ  is  especially  adapted  to  the  necessities  of  a 
physical  life;  and  we  infer,  with  unanswerable  logic, 
that  the  brain,  with  its  highly  specialized  powers 
and  functions,  was  a  product  of  organic  evolution. 
Moreover,  we  are  confirmed  in  this  induction  by 
the  fact  that  it  appeared  at  the  opportune  moment, 
—  that  is  to  say,  when  it  became  a  necessity  as  a 
means  of  promoting  the  further  progressive  devel- 
opment of  organic  life.  From  that  moment  mere 
brute  force  ceased  to  be  the  only  factor  in  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest.  Induction  supplanted  it  just  in 
proportion  to  the  development  of  that  power,  until 
in  man  it  is  the  predominant  factor;  for  it  not  only 
gives  him  dominion  over  the  whole  brute  creation, 
but  over  the  forces  of  nature.  In  other  words,  it 
enables  him  to  create  his  own  environment  in  defi- 
ance of  adverse  conditions. 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood  in  reference  to  the 
inductive  powers  of  the  lower  animals.  Induction 
is  simply  the  process  of  estimating  the  relative  and 
the  cumulative  values  of  facts.  In  its  higher  de- 
velopment it  enables  us  to  learn  something  of  the 
laws  of  nature  and  to  harness  its  forces  for  the  uses 
of  mankind.  Its  simplest  processes  are  employed  in 
discriminating  between  two  or  more  facts,  and  the 
first  brain  that  was  developed  in  animal  life  on  this 
planet  performed  that  function.  It  was  feeble,  of 
course,  but  it  served  its  purpose,  for  the  animal 
with  brains  survived  and  soon  dominated  the  or- 
ganic world.  Feeble  as  were  its  powers  in  the  be- 


86          THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

ginning,  it  was  able  to  educate  the  subjective  mind, 
and  thus  create  or  develop  secondary  instincts  adapted 
to  new  and  constantly  changing  environmental  con- 
ditions. The  result  was  what  one  would  have  a  right 
to  expect  under  the  theory  of  the  dominating  influ- 
ence of  the  objective  mind ;  namely,  the  animals  that 
possess  the  greatest  objective  intelligence  are  invari- 
ably endowed  with  the  most  complex  instincts.  All 
modern  biologists  now  admit  that  this  is  a  rule  with- 
out a  known  exception. 

It  follows  that  the  objective  mind  is  the  dominat- 
ing factor  in  the  mental  organism  of  the  lower  ani- 
mals just  the  same  as  it  is  in  that  of  man,  and  that 
the  vast  congeries  of  complex  secondary  instincts 
with  which  men  and  animals  are  endowed  originated 
in  each  case  in  the  objective  mind.  How  ?  Let  Dar- 
win answer :  "  Intelligent  actions,  after  being  per- 
formed during  several  generations,  become  converted 
into  instincts  and  are  inherited,  as  when  birds  on 
oceanic  islands  learn  to  avoid  man."  l  Romanes  ex- 
tends the  same  principle  in  the  following  language: 
"  Intelligent  adjustments  when  frequently  performed 
become  automatic  in  the  individual,  and  next  they 
are  inherited  till  they  become  automatic  habits  in 
the  race."  2 

Darwin's  reference  to  the  birds  on  oceanic  islands 
points  to  a  very  apt  illustration  of  the  principle  under 
consideration.  When  the  white  man  first  made  his 
appearance  on  those  hitherto  uninhabited  islands,  he 
found  the  native  birds  to  be  devoid  of  the  fear  of 
man.  Having  never  seen  one,  they  were  unaware 

1  Descent  of  Man,  p.  67  (Appletons'  cd.,  1896). 
*  Mental  Evolution  in  Animals,  p.  268. 


SUGGESTION  IN  LOWER  ANIMAL  LIFE      87 

that  the  human  biped  in  his  savage  and  semi-savage 
state  is  the  natural  enemy  of  all  birds ;  but  they  soon 
learned  the  lesson,  and  they  learned,  moreover,  that 
he  was  armed  with  a  weapon  that  was  fatal  to  birds 
at  long  distances.  The  result  was  that  they  soon  in- 
telligently adapted  themselves  to  the  new  environ- 
mental conditions,  —  that  is,  they  avoided  the  new 
danger,  by  making  themselves  exceedingly  scarce  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  "  man  behind  the  gun." 
It  is  further  alleged  that  they  very  soon  learned  to 
measure  with  great  accuracy  the  effective  range  of 
the  guns,  —  just  as  our  native  crows  have  learned 
to  know  the  same  thing,  and,  moreover,  to  keep  pace 
with  modern  improvements  in  fire-arms. 

It  is  further  stated,  with  reference  to  the  sea-island 
birds,  that  the  generations  of  young  birds  born  im- 
mediately subsequent  to  the  advent  of  man  were  as 
fearless  in  presence  of  the  latter  as  were  their  ances- 
tors when  man  first  invaded  their  habitat,  and  re- 
mained so  until  they  were  educated  by  the  example 
of  the  older  birds,  or  learned  the  lesson  from  their 
own  experience.  Nevertheless,  after  an  "  intelli- 
gent "  avoidance  of  the  new  danger  "  during  sev- 
eral generations,"  the  fear  of  man  was  converted 
into  an  inheritable  instinct,  and  thereafter  the 
youngest  bird  was  as  fearful  of  his  enemy  as  was 
his  most  experienced  ancestor. 

The  question  now  is,  What  were  the  mental  proc- 
esses employed  in  the  creation  of  the  new  instinct? 
Obviously  the  first  step  involved  was  the  exercise  of 
the  powers  of  induction ;  for  there  were  at  least  three 
facts  to  correlate  and  a  conclusion  to  be  drawn.  The 
first  fact  was  the  man,  the  second  was  the  gun,  and 


88  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

the  third  was  the  effective  range  of  the  gun ;  and  the 
conclusion  was  that  within  certain  limits  of  distance, 
which  the  bird  was  able  to  measure  or  estimate  with 
practical  exactitude,  the  man  and  the  gun  consti- 
tuted a  combination  that  was  fatal  to  birds.  Whether 
the  bird  was  able  to  consider  the  man  and  the  gun 
as  separate  or  separable  factors  in  the  combination, 
our  informant  does  not  state.  But  it  is  well  known 
to  every  American  farmer's  boy  that  our  native  crow 
is  able  to  perform  that  inductive  feat ;  that  is  to  say, 
he  knows  that  the  crow  is  provokingly  fearless  of 
man  when  the  latter  is  without  a  gun  and  corre- 
spondingly shy  when  the  fatal  combination  is  in  evi- 
dence. Moreover,  the  crow  is  able  to  correlate  the 
three  factors,  —  namely,  the  man,  the  gun,  and  a 
certain  definite  area  of  territory ;  and  he  knows  that 
the  elimination  of  any  one  of  them  is  fatal  to  the 
efficiency  of  the  combination. 

This  is  just  as  truly  a  process  of  induction  as  was 
that  which  Newton  employed  in  his  search  for  the 
law  of  gravitation;  and  it  just  as  certainly  involves 
the  collection,  classification,  and  correlation  of  facts 
for  the  purpose  of  arriving  at  a  general  conclusion, 
as  did  the  process  which  Kepler  employed  in  his 
search  for  his  three  laws  of  planetary  motion. 

Being  a  process  of  induction,  it  follows  that  it 
originated  in  the  objective  mind,  —  the  mind  of 
which  the  brain  is  the  organ,  —  the  mind  of  "  in- 
telligence," as  distinguished  from  the  mind  of  "  in- 
stinct," —  the  mind  whose  office  it  is  to  educate 
the  subjective,  or  instinctive  intelligence,  and  guide 
it  through  the  intricate  mazes  of  a  physical 
environment. 


SUGGESTION  IN  LOWER  ANIMAL   LIFE      89 

Is  there  any  doubt  as  to  the  scientific  accuracy  of 
the  last  proposition  ?  Locke  says  that  "  God  does 
not  make  noble  things  for  ignoble  uses,"  which  is 
true  in  a  limited  sense.  If  he  had  said  that  God 
does  not  make  noble  things  without  any  uses,  he 
would  have  propounded  a  "  universal  postulate,"  for 
its  opposite  is  inconceivable.  And  this  is  precisely 
what  God  would  have  done  if  He  had  created  a 
brain  intelligence  capable  of  inductive  reasoning, 
when  there  was  already  in  existence  an  organized 
intelligence  endowed  with  the  same  powers  and  ca- 
pable, actually  or  potentially,  of  performing  the  same 
functions.  It  is  an  axiom  of  evolutionary  science 
that  no  physical  organ  was  ever  evolved  except  in 
response  to  a  necessity  growing  out  of  physical  en- 
vironmental conditions;  and  this  is  as  true  of  the 
brain,  with  its  distinctive  functions  and  faculties,  as 
it  is  of  the  antennae  of  the  humblest  insect. 

As  I  have  repeatedly  had  occasion  to  observe,  that 
which  is  now  designated  as  the  subjective  mind 
exists  in  all  sentient  organisms,  from  the  moneron 
to  man;  its  salient  characteristics  are  the  same  now 
as  in  the  primordial  epoch,  varying  only  in  degree; 
and  its  one  salient  limitation  of  power  is  due  to 
what  science,  for  want  of  a  better  name,  has  desig- 
nated as  the  law  of  suggestion.  I  have  also  shown 
that  comparatively  late  in  the  history  of  organic 
evolution  a  new  mental  power  was  developed,  capa- 
ble of  supplying  the  deficiency  due  to  the  limiting 
law,  and  thus  imparting  a  fresh  impetus  to  progres- 
sive development  in  the  organic  world.  I  repeat 
that  this  new  power  would  not  have  been  evolved 
but  for  the  necessity  which  existed;  and  hence  the 


90  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

specific  character  of  the  new  power  is  demonstrative 
evidence  of  the  character  of  the  deficiency  or  limi- 
tation. Not  that  it  imparted  any  new  powers  to  the 
already  existent  mental  organism,  but  that  it  was 
able  intelligently  to  direct  and  promote  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  scope  of  the  old.  I  have  endeavored  to 
point  out  the  process  by  which  this  was  begun,  — 
namely,  by  the  development  of  new  or  secondary 
instincts,  —  and  that  this  was  possible  only  under 
the  correlative  laws  of  duality  and  suggestion. 

I  have  said  that  no  new  powers  were  imparted  to 
the  subjective  mind;  nor  were  its  limitations  re- 
moved. Obviously  that  would  be  impossible  without 
changing  or  repealing  a  law  of  nature.  The  same 
limitations  must  always  exist  so  long  as  it  is  hedged 
about  by  a  physical  environment. 

It  will  thus  be  seen,  (i)  that  all  progressive 
increase  of  animal  intelligence  beyond  primordial 
conditions  is  due  to  the  development  of  secondary 
instincts,  from  time  to  time,  in  response  to  the  ne- 
cessities growing  out  of  new  and  constantly  chang- 
ing environmental  conditions;  (2)  that  the  acts  of 
secondary  instincts  are  at  first  "  intelligently  "  per- 
formed, and  are  afterward  crystallized  into  inherit- 
able instincts;  (3)  that  the  "intelligence"  which 
thus  adapts  itself  to  new  environmental  conditions 
is  primarily  that  of  the  objective,  or  brain,  mind; 
(4)  that  the  objective  mind  was,  and  is,  the  in- 
structor of  the  subjective  mind;  and  (5)  that  all 
progressive  development  of  animal  intelligence  is  due 
to  the  suggestions  of  the  objective  mind  to  the  sub- 
jective mind. 

It  follows  that  all  evolutionary  development  of 


SUGGESTION  IN  LOWER  ANIMAL  LIFE      91 

animal  intelligence  is  due  to  the  law  of  suggestion; 
that  is  to  say,  all  acquisitions  of  knowledge  that 
are  inheritable,  and  therefore  permanent  and  valu- 
able to  the  species,  are  due  to  that  one  universal 
law.  For  until  animal  intelligence  is  converted  into, 
an  instinct  it  is  not  inheritable,  and  until  it  is  in- 
heritable it  is  not  permanent,  and  until  it  is  perma- 
nent it  is  of  little  value  to  them  in  the  struggle  for 
life. 

What  is  true  of  the  lower  animals  is  also  true  of 
the  higher  animals,  including  man.  The  same  law 
that  prevails  in  the  acquisition  of  the  secondary  in- 
stincts which  enable  the  lower  animals  to  cope  suc- 
cessfully with  new  environmental  conditions,  enables 
man  to  assert  and  to  maintain  his  dominion  over 
all  the  animal  creation,1  to  educate  his  children,  and 
to  train  them  for  future  usefulness  in  the  moral  and 
intellectual  realms. 

It  follows  that  the  law  of  suggestion  is  an  essen- 
tial factor  in  the  evolution  of  civilization  as  well  as 
in  the  evolution  of  animal  intelligence.  As  such,  it 

1  Were  it  not  for  the  law  of  suggestion,  it  would  be  impossible  for 
man  to  tame  a  tiger,  subdue  an  elephant,  or  break  a  horse.  Thus,  every 
one  is  aware  that  in  order  successfully  to  reduce  a  horse  to  permanent 
subjection  to  the  will  of  man,  he  must  be  made  to  believe  that  man  is 
stronger  than  a  horse.  This  is  usually  done  by  throwing  the  animal  and 
holding  him  down  until  he  ceases  to  struggle.  When  that  has  been  suc- 
cessfully accomplished,  the  rest  is  easy ;  for  the  suggestion  has  thus  been 
imparted  to  the  limited  intelligence  of  the  horse  that  it  is  useless  to 
struggle  against  superior  strength.  This  principle  prevails  in  all  en- 
counters between  man  and  the  lower  animals ;  and  just  in  proportion  to 
man's  success  in  imparting  that  suggestion  to  the  animal  he  seeks  to 
subdue,  will  he  succeed  in  rendering  the  animal  permanently  obedient 
and  docile.  In  a  word,  man  is  enabled  to  assert  and  maintain  his  do- 
minion over  the  animal  creation  solely  by  virtue  of  the  law  of 
suggestion. 


92  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

is  the  antithesis  of  the  law  of  heredity,  which  has 
been  rightly  termed  "  the  conservative  factor  in  evo- 
lution." Heredity  simply  preserves  what  has  been 
gained  by  evolution.  It  takes  no  step  in  advance;  it 
accomplishes  no  new  result.  Indeed,  its  tendencies, 
under  the  law  of  atavism,  are  retrogressive.  Evolu- 
tion, with  all  its  factors  and  forces,  is  progressive; 
and  as  suggestion  is  its  prime  factor,  especially  in 
moral  and  intellectual  advancement,  it  follows,  as 
before  remarked,  that  suggestion  is  the  antithesis  of 
heredity.  In  this  sense,  therefore,  suggestion  may  be 
defined  as  the  one  means,  available  to  man,  whereby 
he  may  avoid,  overcome,  or  neutralize  the  evils  due 
to  heredity. 

It  is,  therefore,  not  only  the  prime  and  all-potent 
factor  in  the  evolutionary  development  of  animal  life 
and  intelligence,  but  it  is  the  one  supreme  psycholog- 
ical factor,  without  which  human  civilization  would 
be  impossible. 

Enough  has  now  been  said  to  show  that  the  first 
two  terms  of  our  hypothesis  are  demonstrable  propo- 
sitions. It  remains  to  prove  that  the  third  term  is 
equally  veridical, — namely,  that  "the  subjective  mind 
controls  the  functions,  sensations,  and  conditions  of 
the  body."  This  we  may  assume,  for  the  present,  to 
have  been  provisionally  established  by  the  testimony 
of  "a  cloud  of  witnesses,"  including  that  of  the  ablest 
members  of  the  medical  profession,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  innumerable  evidences  of  it  in  the  records  of 
cures  of  disease  under  the  thousand  and  one  systems 
of  mental  healing,  generically  known  to  science  as 
"  Suggestive  Therapeutics."  But  it  will  more  fully 
appear  as  we  proceed  with  the  discussion  hereinafter. 


CHAPTER   VII 
SUGGESTIONS  ADVERSE  TO   HEALTH 

The  more  Beneficent  a  Law  of  Nature,  the  Heavier  the  Penalty  for  its 
Violation.  —  This  Axiom  as  applicable  to  Laws  of  Life,  Mind,  and 
Health  as  to  any  other  Law.  —  Exemption  of  the  Lower  Animals 
from  Suggestions  Adverse  to  Health.  —  Man  the  Prey  of  such  Sug- 
gestions.—  The  Potency  of  Adverse  Suggestions  equal  to  that  of 
Therapeutic  Suggestions.  —  The  Newspaper  an  Agency  for  the 
Promulgation  of  Suggestions  Adverse  to  Health.  —  The  Patent- 
Medicine  Advertisement.  —  The  Danger  of  Adverse  Suggestions 
to  Students  of  Medicine.  —  Newspaper  Literature  relating  to  Diet. 
—  Pernicious  Dietetics.  —  Auto-Suggestion  the  Safeguard. 

IT  is  axiomatic  that  the  more  beneficent  a  law  is, 
the  heavier  are  the  penalties  exacted  for  its  vio- 
lation. This  is  divine  justice,  and  in  the  realm  of 
natural  law  the  rule  is  inexorable.  Hence  the  high- 
est conception  of  human  justice,  in  criminal  juris- 
prudence, is  to  "  make  the  punishment  fit  the  crime." 
Owing,  however,  to  human  imperfections,  the  highest 
ideal  is  not  often,  if  ever,  reached,  although  it  is 
more  and  more  nearly  approximated  as  humanity 
rises  in  the  scale  of  civilization;  hence  the  gradual 
restriction  of  the  death  penalty  to  violations  of  the 
laws  for  the  protection  of  human  life. 

In  nature's  laws  the  inexorable  rule  is  as  above 
stated;  and  no  amount  of  culture  or  experience  or 
evolutionary  development  can  enable  one  of  God's 
creatures  to  evade  the  full  penalty  exacted  by  nature 


94  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

for  the  violation  of  one  of  her  laws.  Necessarily 
this  is  as  true  of  the  laws  of  life,  mind,  and  health 
as  it  is  of  any  other.  If  it  were  not,  there  could  be 
no  such  thing  as  a  science  of  psychology  or  of  physi- 
ology or  of  therapeutics ;  for  nothing  could  be  safely 
predicated  upon  the  truth  of  that  most  fundamental 
of  all  the  axioms  of  science,  — "  the  constancy  of 
nature."  In  fact,  one  of  the  surest  methods  of  defi- 
nitely ascertaining  and  confirming  the  existence  and 
universality  of  a  supposed  law  of  nature  is  by  sys- 
tematic observation  of  the  evils  resulting  from  its 
violation.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  laws  of 
health,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  most  of  the  im- 
portant discoveries  in  therapeutical  science  were  the 
results  of  observations  of  pathological  conditions  of 
the  human  body  or  of  the  mind.  If  the  penalties 
are  constant  and  uniform,  coextensive  with  the  real 
or  supposed  range  or  scope  of  the  law  itself,  and 
commensurate  in  each  case  with  the  magnitude  and 
character  of  the  infractions,  it  is  presumptive,  if  not 
conclusive,  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the  law. 

To  this  test  we  must  now  submit  the  law  of  sug- 
gestion. If  the  axiom  is  true  that  "  the  more  benefi- 
cent a  law  is,  the  heavier  are  the  penalties  exacted 
for  its  violation,"  we  shall  have  a  right  to  expect  to 
find  that  a  perversion  of  the  power  of  suggestion  is 
followed  by  untold  evils  to  body,  mind,  and  soul. 
And  this,  as  I  shall  attempt  to  show,  is  borne  out  by 
all  human  experience.  For  the  present,  however,  I 
shall  confine  myself  to  the  domain  of  therapeutics, 
although  enough  will  be  said  to  show  that  the  prin- 
ciple applies  with  equal  force  to  every  field  of  human 
activity. 


SUGGESTIONS  ADVERSE   TO  HEALTH       95 

Two  questions  have  been  asked  by  speculative 
philosophers  of  all  the  ages,  neither  of  which  could 
ever  be  satisfactorily  answered  prior  to  the  discov- 
ery of  the  law  of  suggestion.  The  first  is,  Why  are 
the  lower  animals  so  much  more  healthy  than  the 
human  race?  The  second  is,  Why  does  man  grow 
weaker  as  he  grows  wiser?  Both  these  questions 
have  been  answered  more  or  less  satisfactorily  from 
various  standpoints,  but  it  is  now  safe  to  say  that 
the  law  of  suggestion  reveals  the  prime  factor  in  the 
solution  of  both  problems. 

In  the  first  place,  the  lower  animals,  owing  to 
their  lack  of  intelligence,  are  entirely  exempt  from 
the  influence  of  suggestions  adverse  to  health.  The 
same  is  true  of  idiots  and  of  many  insane  persons, 
and  for  the  same  reason.  In  neither  case  can  ad- 
verse suggestions  reach  the  subjective  mind,  owing 
to  the  limited  intelligence  of  the  objective.  Hence 
"  nature,"  as  the  world  loosely  defines  that  mysteri- 
ous energy  within  which  keeps  us  alive,  is  left  free 
and  untrammelled  to  follow  its  natural  trend,  which 
is  always  toward  health  and  the  conservation  of  the 
vital  forces. 

On  the  other  hand,  man,  whose  objective  mind 
is  capable  of  receiving  and  assimilating  impressions 
from  innumerable  sources,  is  the  constant  prey  of 
suggestions  adverse  to  health;  and  the  most  signifi- 
cant feature  of  it  is  that,  the  more  numerous  are  the 
sources  from  which  man  receives  his  impressions, 
the  greater  are  the  dangers  which  beset  his  pathway 
through  life.  In  other  words,  the  history  of  the 
world  shows  that  as  the  sources  of  information  mul- 
tiply, the  diseases  of  mankind  increase  in  number 


96          THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

and  prevalence;  and  this  in  spite  of  man's  increased 
knowledge  of  medicine,  sanitation,  and  hygiene.  This 
fact  alone  points  unmistakably  to  a  psychological 
cause;  and  to  those  who  have  followed  my  remarks 
thus  far  it  will  be  obvious  that  popular  ignorance 
of  the  law  of  suggestion  is  responsible.  For  if  sug- 
gestion is  a  therapeutic  agency  as  effective  and  uni- 
versal as  we  have  found  it  to  be,  it  follows  that 
suggestions  adverse  to  health  must  be  equally  potent 
in  the  other  direction.  This  view  of  the  case  will 
be  confirmed  if  we  find  that  suggestions  adverse 
to  health  are  as  common  and  as  prevalent  and  as 
virulent,  so  to  speak,  as  the  diseases  themselves. 
That  is  to  say,  we  may  expect  to  find  that  the  in- 
crease of  such  suggestions,  and  the  facilities  for 
imparting  them  to  the  public,  are  proportioned  to 
the  increase  in  the  number  of  diseases  which  afflict 
mankind;  and  this,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  is  precisely 
what  we  do  find.  Beginning  with  the  lower  animals 
and  idiots,  neither  of  whom  are  capable  of  receiving 
either  a  therapeutic  suggestion  or  one  adverse  to 
health,  and  ascending  through  all  the  grades  of 
human  intelligence,  we  find  that  this  ratio  prevails. 
It  follows  that  as  in  these  days  books  and  news- 
papers furnish  facilities,  greater  than  ever  before 
existed,  for  imparting  suggestions  to  those  who 
read  them,  we  may  expect  to  find  that  books  and 
newspapers  are  the  prime  sources  of  the  sugges- 
tions, good  or  bad,  which  dominate  mankind  of  the 
present  day.  Now,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
press,  especially  the  newspaper,  leads  the  van  in 
the  world's  material  and  intellectual  progress;  but 
it  is  equally  true  that  the  newspaper,  as  a  means 


SUGGESTIONS  ADVERSE    TO  HEALTH       97 

of  promoting  or  promulgating  psychological  knowl- 
edge, has  thus  far  proved  a  dismal  failure.  This  is 
not  the  fault  of  the  newspaper,  per  se;  but  it  arises 
from  the  fact  that  the  average  newspaper  man  shows 
the  prevailing  ignorance  of  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  psychology,  especially  of  the  new  psychol- 
ogy. I  shall  not  stop  to  dwell  upon  the  fact  that  the 
new  psychology,  in  the  hands  of  ignorance,  readily 
lends  itself  to  the  uses  of  newspaper  sensationalism, 
for  that  is  not  the  worst  feature  of  the  situation. 
It  matters  little  that  the  newspaper  has  succeeded 
in  frightening  its  readers  into  an  insane  prejudice 
against  hypnotism,  for  popular  prejudice  against 
that  psychological  agency  is  not  without  its  value 
in  guarding  the  public  against  the  possible  evils  of 
hypnotism  in  the  hands  of  ignorance  and  charlatan- 
ism. But  the  case  assumes  a  serious  aspect  when 
we  consider  the  newspaper  as  an  agency  for  the  pro- 
mulgation of  suggestions  adverse  to  public  health; 
and  the  fact  that  it  is  done  unintentionally  and  in 
ignorance  of  the  law  of  suggestion  serves  but  to 
enhance  the  gravity  of  the  situation. 

The  first  and  most  obvious  agency  through  which 
the  newspaper  assists  in  the  promulgation  of  sug- 
gestions adverse  to  health  is  the  patent-medicine 
advertisement.  .  Everybody  is  familiar  with  the 
patent-medicine  man's  insidious  ways,  and  with 
what  preternatural  cunning  he  insinuates  ideas  of 
ill  health  into  the  minds  of  his  readers.  If  his 
medicine  is  not  a  panacea  for  all  the  ills  that  flesh 
is  heir  to,  he  usually  selects  some  disease  that  is 
quite  common  —  say,  dyspepsia,  or  liver  complaint, 
or  kidney  trouble,  or  impure  blood  —  and  then  pro- 

7 


98  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

ceeds  to  tell  us  that  all  other  diseases  arise  from  the 
particular  disease  which  he  has  selected  for  a  base 
of  operations.  He  then  proceeds  to  dilate  upon  the 
fatal  character  of  his  selection,  and  usually  appends 
a  long  list  of  "  symptoms  "  by  which  any  one  can 
know  that  he  is  a  victim.  The  list  is  always  exten- 
sive enough  to  include  every  conceivable  sensation 
that  is  at  all  uncomfortable,  so  that  few  healthy  per- 
sons escape,  and  none  who  are  watchful  for  patho- 
logical "symptoms"  in  themselves  can  possibly  count 
their  cases  outside  of  the  fatal  category.  Fortunately 
for  the  patent-medicine  business,  the  latter  class  is 
very  numerous.  In  fact,  there  are  few  persons  who 
cannot,  by  persistent  "  introspection,"  evoke  any  par- 
ticular "  symptom  "  that  has  been  suggested.  The 
tendency  to  do  so  is  one  of  the  serious  difficulties 
encountered  by  the  students  of  pathology  in  our 
medical  colleges;  and  before  the  law  of  suggestion 
was  understood  by  the  faculties,  many  students  were 
compelled  to  abandon  their  studies  because  of  their 
irresistible  tendency  to  "  imagine,"  and  eventually 
to  experience,  every  symptom  of  the  diseases  they 
\vere  called  upon  to  study.  Some,  indeed,  of  the 
more  persistent  paid  the  penalty  of  death  by  diseases 
brought  on  by  the  suggestions  borne  in  upon  them 
by  their  studies.  I  personally  know  one  physician,  a 
graduate  of  a  regular  medical  college,  whose  useful- 
ness has  often  been  seriously  impaired  in  critical 
cases  by  the  fact  that  he  almost  invariably  "  took  on 
the  conditions  "  of  the  patient  while  at  the  bedside, 
especially  if  the  patient  experienced  any  great  amount 
of  pain,  —  cases  of  parturition  forming  no  exception 
to  the  rule.  Husbands  have  been  known  to  suffer 


SUGGESTIONS  ADVERSE   TO  HEALTH       99 

equally  with  their  wives  in  such  cases,  and  instances 
are  not  uncommon  where  the  husband  suffers  all  the 
pangs  of  "  morning  sickness  "  during  the  pregnancy 
of  the  wife.  In  one  case  the  husband  was  personally 
known  to  the  author.  His  first  experience  occurred 
while  he  was  temporarily  absent  from  home,  and  it 
continued  for  two  weeks  before  he  returned.  In  the 
meantime  he  consulted  an  eminent  physician  who 
happened  to  be  familiar  with  the  phenomenon,  hav- 
ing met  with  several  such  cases  in  the  course  of  his 
practice.  He  recognized  the  symptoms  at  once;  but 
the  fact  of  the  absence  of  the  husband  from  home 
when  he  was  first  attacked  puzzled  him,  for  telepa- 
thy was  not  then  recognized  as  a  possible  factor  in 
such  cases  by  physicians  of  the  old  school.  Never- 
theless, the  doctor  was  so  sure  of  the  significance  of 
the  symptoms  that  he  urged  a  comparison  of  notes 
when  the  husband  returned  home ;  "  for,"  said  he, 
"  what  mysterious  bond  of  psychological  sympathy 
may  exist  between  husband  and  wife,  no  one  can 
tell."  A  comparison  of  experiences  proved  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  doctor's  diagnosis;  for  the  husband's 
and  wife's  sufferings  were  found  to  have  been  coin- 
cident as  to  time  and  character,  day  by  day,  from 
the  beginning. 

This,  however,  is  a  slight  digression.  My  object 
is  to  show  how  easily  and  powerfully  suggestions 
may  operate  to  bring  about  pathological  conditions 
in  people  of  far  more  than  average  intelligence.  If 
medical  students  can  be  so  wrought  upon  by  the  sug- 
gestions embraced  in  their  general  studies  of  pathol- 
ogy and  their  subsequent  experiences  at  the  bedside, 
what  may  we  not  expect  of  that  large  and  constantly 


100         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

augmenting  class  whose  knowledge  of  pathology  is 
derived  solely  from  the  patent-medicine  advertise- 
ments in  the  daily  papers?  This  question  is  espe- 
cially pertinent  in  view  of  the  fact  that  a  very  large 
proportion  of  that  class  are  never  so  happy  as  when 
they  can  find  in  themselves  an  illustrative  example 
of  the  pathological  science  to  be  found  in  the  patent- 
medicine  advertisement. 

Suggestions  arising  from  this  source  are,  however, 
among  the  very  least  of  the  evils  resulting  from 
newspaper  science  of  medicine;  for,  bad  as  are  the 
influences  of  the  patent-medicine  advertisement,  it 
is  not  without  its  mitigating  factors.  In  the  first 
place,  the  medicines  themselves  are  generally  harm- 
less; and  in  the  second  place  they  carry  with  them 
very  potent  suggestions  as  to  their  therapeutic  effi- 
cacy. These  are  in  the  form  of  "testimonials"  from 
those  who  have  been  "  raised  from  the  dead  "  by 
means  of  the  nostrums  advertised;  and  as  such  tes- 
timonials are  usually  very  cheap  and  easy  to  pro- 
cure, especially  from  those  who  are  fired  with  an 
ambition  to  see  their  names  and  pictures  in  print, 
or  from  decayed  statesmen,  they  are  generally  abun- 
dant in  quantity  and  of  a  quality  exactly  suited  to 
the  demands  of  trade.  Many  such  testimonials  are, 
no  doubt,  genuine;  but  be  that  as  it  may,  they  per- 
form the  functions  of  a  therapeutic  suggestion  in 
reference  to  the  remedy  advertised,  and  thus  elevate 
the  patent  medicine  to  the  standard  therapeutic  value 
of  the  placebo  of  the  regular  practitioner.  And  this 
is  saying  a  great  deal  for  the  patent  medicine;  for 
the  average  physician  is  never  entitled  to  so  much 
confidence  as  when  he  administers  a  placebo  accom- 


SUGGESTIONS  ADVERSE    TO  HEALTH      IOI 

panied  by  a  vigorous  therapeutic  suggestion.  In  the 
hands  of  the  prudent  physician,  who  is  distrustful  of 
his  own  diagnosis,  the  placebo  is  of  the  very  essence 
of  conservatism.  It  conceals  the  ignorance  of  the 
doctor,  —  which  is  in  itself  a  measure  of  great  thera- 
peutic value,  —  and  it  supplies  the  patient's  strenu- 
ous demand  for  medicine.  It  gives  the  physician 
time  to  study  the  case,  and  "  nature  "  an  opportunity 
to  do  his  work  for  him.  Best  of  all,  it  does  no  harm ; 
and  when  accompanied  by  an  intelligent  therapeutic 
suggestion,  it  often  does  much  good.  To  a  limited 
extent  the  harmless  patent  medicine,  when  accom- 
panied by  the  "  testimonial,"  does  the  same  thing 
in  the  same  way;  and  hence  the  remark  that  the 
patent-medicine  advertisement  is  one  of  the  least  of 
the  evils  resulting  from  the  medical  literature  of  the 
newspaper. 

If  J  were  called  upon  to  name  the  most  prolific 
source  of  suggestions  adverse  to  health,  I  should 
unhesitatingly  say  that  it  is  the  newspaper  literature 
relating  to  diet.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  nine-tenths  of 
all  diseases  of  the  digestive  organs,  especially  dys- 
pepsia, are  due  primarily  to  the  suggestions  embraced 
in  that  kind  of  literature.  The  exasperating  feature 
of  it  is  that  not  one  newspaper  article  in  a  hundred 
on  that  topic  is  written  by  any  one  who  knows  any- 
thing about  the  subject.  They  are  generally  written 
by  boys  or  young  ladies  who  are  learning  the  trade 
of  newspaper  writers.  Everybody  familiar  with  that 
class  of  people  is  aware  that  the  highest  ambition  of 
the  newspaper  cub  is  to  write  something  that  will 
be  extensively  copied  by  other  papers;  and  he  soon 
learns  that  anything  pertaining  to  health  in  general, 


102         THE  LA  W  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

or  diet  in  particular,  is  sure  of  an  extensive  and 
eager  hearing.  Whereupon  he  proceeds  to  guess 
out  a  long  list  of  articles  of  diet  that  are  "  un- 
healthy," because  indigestible,  or  innutritious,  or 
poisonous.  In  order  to  be  entirely  original  and 
startling,  he  generally  selects  one  or  more  of  the 
most  popular  articles  of  diet  in  his  community,  and 
tells  his  readers  that  they  are  —  perhaps  slowly,  but 
"  certainly  surely  "  —  sapping  the  foundations  of 
their  respective  constitutions  by  indulgence  in  this 
or  that  particular  article  of  diet. 

One  of  the  wise  sayings  of  the  celebrated  Dr. 
Abernethy  was  that  "  when  a  man  begins  seriously 
to  dissect  himself,  he  will  soon  be  a  fit  subject  for 
the  undertaker."  And  this  is  precisely  what  the 
average  reader  of  such  articles  generally  proceeds 
to  do.  That  is  to  say,  the  next  time  he  indulges  in 
the  article  of  diet  inveighed  against,  he  proceeds  to 
institute  a  series  of  introspective  observations  hav- 
ing special  reference  to  the  behavior  of  his  stomach 
in  presence  of  that  particular  article  of  nutriment, 
and  he  is  generally  rewarded  by  finding  just  what 
he  is  looking  for,  namely,  some  decidedly  uneasy 
symptoms  indicative  of  indigestion.  The  next  time 
he  tries  it  the  symptoms  are  more  pronounced;  and 
the  third  or  fourth  trial  is  generally  sufficient  to 
cause  that  particular  dish,  e.  g.  bread  and  butter,  to 
be  tabooed  as  utterly  indigestible.  Then  he  proceeds 
to  lecture  his  family  and  friends  on  the  subject  of 
the  insidious  but  deadly  character  of  bread  and  but- 
ter ;  and  in  due  time  that  article  of  food  is  banished 
from  the  household  bill  of  fare. 

The  next  newspaper  article  attacks   some  other 


SUGGESTIONS  ADVERSE   TO  HEALTH       1 03 

article  of  diet,  and  with  the  same  result,  and  so 
on  through  the  whole  bill  of  fare  of  the  ordinary 
household;  the  result  being  one  or  more  confirmed 
dyspeptics  in  every  family.  It  may  be  thought  that 
I  am  stating  an  extreme  case.  It  is  extreme,  but 
very  common;  for  this  is  the  way  dyspeptics  are 
created  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten.  The  weakness  of 
the  stomach  is  often  due  solely  to  atrophy  of  t 
organ;  and  the  atrophy  is  due,  not  to  eating  indi- 
gestible food,  nor  to  habitual  overtaxation  of  the 
digestive  powers,  but  to  the  fact  that  it  was  not 
given  enough  to  do  to  keep  its  powers  at  their  maxi- 
mum. It  atrophies,  precisely  as  any  other  organ  of 
the  body  will  atrophy,  for  the  lack  of  a  normal  amount 
of  exercise;  and  the  only  way  to  give  it  healthy 
exercise  is  to  give  it  a  normal  amount  of  nutritious 
food  to  digest,  always  taking  care  to  avoid  those 
mental  conditions  which  interfere  with  the  normal 
action  of  the  digestive  organs.  Strange  as  it  may 
appear  at  first  glance,  the  latter  consideration  is  of 
the  first  importance;  for  there  is  no  such  thing  in 
civilized  countries  as  an  indigestible  article  of  hu- 
man diet,  provided  the  proper  mental  conditions 
are  maintained.  Conversely,  there  is  no  article  of 
food  that  cannot  be  rendered  indigestible  by  the 
induction  of  adverse  mental  conditions.  The  lesson 
is  obvious  and  the  remedy  easy,  but  the  discussion 
of  it  must  be  deferred  for  the  moment. 

Another  newspaper  source  of  suggestions  adverse 
to  health  is  to  be  found  in  the  tendency  of  the  jour- 
nalistic humorist  to  fadism  in  the  construction  of 
the  so-called  newspaper  joke  or  humorous  para- 
graph. A  single  illustration  of  my  meaning  will 


104         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

suffice.  Many  years  ago  some  preternaturally  smart 
newspaper  cub  (an  Englishman,  I  believe)  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  conquering  fame  by  ridiculing  the 
New  England  custom  —  then  almost  universal  — 
of  eating  pie  (pronounced  "  paie,"  in  the  vernacu- 
lar) for  dessert.  The  only  thing  connected  with  the 
custom  —  or  the  pie  —  that  was  a  legitimate  sub- 
ject of  raillery,  even  from  an  Englishman's  dietetic 
standpoint,  was  the  fact  that  the  more  luxurious  of 
the  New  England  pie-eaters  indulged  in  that  luxury 
three  times  a  day.  But  the  pie  joke,  feeble  and 
harmless  as  it  was  in  its  infancy,  survived  and  was 
passed  around  in  its  myriad  forms,  and  so  was  the 
pie,  until  some  more  than  ordinarily  feeble-minded 
newspaper  pathologist  lifted  up  his  voice  and  pro- 
claimed the  New  England  pie  to  be  the  real  and 
only  source  of  all  the  ills  that  American  flesh  was 
heir  to.  This,  of  course,  was  heralded  far  and  wide 
as  a  great  and  an  important  scientific  discovery  in 
dietetics,  and  the  usual  process  of  "  introspection  " 
began  in  thousands  of  New  England  homes  where 
pie  had  before  been  a  benediction  and  a  joy  unspeak- 
able three  times  a  day,  to  say  nothing  of  surrepti- 
tious "  pieces  "  between  meals.  The  usual  results 
followed,  and  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time  a 
"  cloud  of  witnesses "  arose  to  testify  against  pie. 
A  careful  watching  of  the  "  symptoms "  revealed 
the  fact  that  pie  was  "  utterly  indigestible."  In 
vain  it  was  pointed  out  that  for  hundreds  of  years 
it  had  been  eaten  by  all  classes  and  under  all  condi- 
tions by  New  England  people,  and  that  no  one  had 
discovered  that  pie  was  other  than  wholesome  as 
well  as  palatable  and  easily  digested,  until  the  news- 


SUGGESTIONS  ADVERSE   TO  HEALTH     105 

paper  fakir  happened  to  think  about  it.  Once  started, 
the  hue  and  cry  went  the  rounds  of  the  "  family " 
journals,  each  one  seeking  to  outdo  all  the  others, 
until  pie  became  such  an  abomination  in  the  public 
mind  that  it  required  an  abnormal  development  of 
"  nerve  "  to  defy  popular  opinion  so  far  as  to  order 
a  piece  of  pie  at  a  public  restaurant,  and  if  any  one 
had  the  hardihood  to  do  so  he  was  fortunate  if  he 
escaped  a  serious  lecture  by  some  neighboring  "  re- 
former "  on  the  subject  of  the  diabolical  nature  of 
pie.  Even  doctors  were  dragged  into  the  crusade 
and  compelled  by  force  of  public  opinion  to  look 
wise  and  shake  their  heads  when  a  convalescing 
patient  craved  a  piece  of  pie;  and  Emerson  was 
credited  by  a  newspaper  reporter  with  denouncing 
pie  as  the  greatest  evil  with  which  the  American 
nation  had  to  contend.  Some  doctors  even  went  so 
far  as  to  claim  the  credit  of  the  discovery  that  pie 
was  indigestible,  and  others  claimed  to  have  always 
known  that  pie  was  the  root  of  all  evils  in  the  Ameri- 
can commonwealth. 

To  any  one  familiar  with  the  potency  of  sugges- 
tion, it  will  not  seem  strange  that  in  the  midst  of 
such  a  crusade  against  a  particular  article  of  diet 
there  should  be  found  many  whose  experience  amply 
justified  the  crusade;  and  when  we  reflect  that  in 
every  newspaper-reading  family  in  the  United  States 
the  subject  of  the  indigestibility  of  pie  was  a  com- 
mon topic  of  conversation  at  the  table,  it  is  not  at 
all  wonderful  that  in  almost  every  family  one  or 
more  should  experience  a  fit  of  indigestion  after  an 
indulgence  followed  by  the  inevitable  "  introspec- 
tion," or  watching  for  the  anticipated  symptoms.  It 


1 06        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

would,  indeed,  have  been  a  miracle  on  a  national 
scale  if  these  results  had  not  followed,  and  pie  had 
not  been  tabooed,  as  a  consequence,  in  many  an  other- 
wise well-regulated  household. 

In  point  of  fact,  if  the  crusade  had  been  started 
as  an  experiment,  pure  and  simple,  to  test  the  effi- 
cacy of  suggestion  on  a  large  scale,  no  better  test 
could  have  been  devised.  For  such  an  experiment 
an  absolutely  wholesome,  harmless,  and  easily  di- 
gested article  of  diet  would,  for  obvious  reasons, 
furnish  the  crucial  test  of  popular  suggestibility; 
and  I  undertake  to  say  that  the  American  pie  is  as 
well  adapted  to  the  purpose  as  any  food  known  to 
civilized  mankind.  In  saying  this,  I  do  not  include 
the  article  known  as  "  railroad  pie,"  which  is  pop- 
ularly believed,  not  without  reason,  to  be  so  con- 
structed as  to  render  what  is  not  sold  to  the 
famished  traveller  available  as  ballast  in  railroad 
construction.  I  refer  to  the  American  pie  as  it  was 
made  by  our  New  England  grandmothers  in  ante- 
bellum days,  —  that  is,  before  the  crusade  was  in- 
stituted against  it  as  an  institution.  Did  any  of  the 
crusaders  stop  to  analyze  its  contents  with  the  view 
of  ascertaining  what  it  is  that  renders  pie  so  very 
unwholesome?  If  so,  the  result  has  never  been 
published.  Let  us,  then,  examine  it  dispassionately, 
with  the  view  of  determining,  approximately,  what 
proportion  of  suggestion  has  been  mixed  in  with  its 
other  ingredients  in  order  to  render  it  indigestible. 

The  American  pie,  per  se,  is  built  up  of  the  fol- 
lowing materials,  to  wit :  flour,  water,  lard  or  butter, 
or  both,  sugar,  and  fruit,  the  latter  normally  pre- 
dominating largely  as  to  bulk.  The  more  epicurean 


SUGGESTIONS  ADVERSE   TO  HEALTH     107 

tastes  prevailing  among  the  aristocratic  portion  of 
New  England  farmers  demanded  a  little  flavoring 
of  nutmeg,  —  real  nutmeg,  not  the  nutmeg  of  Con- 
necticut commerce  (that  being  manufactured  solely 
for  the  export  trade,  as  tradition  informs  us). 

Will  some  dietetic  crank  rise  to  inform  us  what 
there  is  among  the  materials  themselves,  or  in  the 
combination,  that  is  unwholesome,  or  indigestible, 
or  even  hard  to  digest?  Is  it  not,  indeed,  a  com- 
bination devoutly  to  be  wished  for  by  any  one  of 
simple  tastes  and  normal  appetite?  Is  there  any- 
thing connected  with  it,  suggestion  excepted,  that 
could  have  the  remotest  tendency  to  cause  it  to  "dis- 
agree" with  the  most  delicate  digestive  apparatus? 
Clearly  not. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  I  have  employed  the 
crusade  against  pie  as  an  illustration  of  the  fact  that 
when  once  a  suggestion  adverse  to  any  wholesome 
article  of  diet  or  drink  is  turned  loose  upon  a  com- 
munity, it  carries  with  it  an  incalculable  amount  of 
suffering  among  those  who  are  ignorant  of  the  subtle 
powers  of  suggestion.  And  I  have  spoken  of  the 
newspaper  as  the  means  by  which  such  suggestions 
are  most  extensively  promulgated,  merely  as  an  illus- 
tration of  the  remark  made  in  a  former  chapter,  that 
suggestions  adverse  to  health  are  numerous  in  a  com- 
munity in  proportion  to  its  facilities  for  the  promul- 
gation and  dissemination  of  intelligence.  It  follows 
that  so  long  as  man  rests  in  ignorance  of  the  law  of 
suggestion,  the  higher  the  grade  of  his  civilization, 
the  more  will  he  suffer  from  suggestions  adverse  to 
his  health. 

If  the  New  England  pie  were  the  only  wholesome 


108        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

article  of  diet  against  which  a  crusade  has  been  made, 
these  words  would  not  have  been  written.  But  the 
fact  is,  there  is  scarcely  anything  left  for  one  to  sub- 
sist upon  if  he  pays  attention  to  all  the  current  "  re- 
form "  literature  relating  to  diet.  One  by  one  the 
most  healthful  and  nutritious  articles  of  food  and 
drink  have  been  laid  under  the  ban,  until  now  it 
would  be  impossible  for  a  hungry  man  to  indulge 
in  a  "  square  meal "  without  violating  half-a-dozen 
or  more  of  some  one's  dietetic  rules  and  "  princi- 
ples ;  "  and  could  such  a  man,  after  indulgence,  be 
induced  to  peruse  and  assimilate  the  current  litera- 
ture on  the  subject  of  what  he  had  been  eating,  he 
would  be  in  imminent  danger  of  a  fit  of  indigestion 
that  would  last  him  a  week,  perhaps  a  lifetime.  One 
book  would  tell  him  that  the  coffee  with  which  he 
had  prepared  his  stomach  for  the  more  solid  foods 
was  a  deadly  poison.  Another  would  inform  him 
that  the  beefsteak,  or  other  meats,  which  consti- 
tuted the  piece  de  resistance  of  his  meal,  was  the 
prime  source  of  all  the  ills  of  the  human  stomach, 
to  say  nothing  of  its  irresistible  tendency  to  brutalize 
humanity  and  incite  nations  to  war.  The  next  au- 
thority would  inhibit  potatoes  because  they  contain 
too  much  starch,  and  another  would  inhibit  the  other 
vegetables  because  they  do  not  contain  enough.  One 
authority  would  tell  him  that  he  did  n't  eat  enough 
salt  with  his  food;  and  the  next  would  be  equally 
positive  that  salt  in  appreciable  quantities  is  demor- 
alizing to  the  human  organism.  One  authority  tells 
him  that  it  is  disastrous  to  drink  anything  during  a 
meal,  and  the  next  dietetic  savant  tells  him  that  he 
should  deluge  his  stomach  with  hot  water  if  he  ex- 


SUGGESTIONS  ADVERSE   TO  HEALTH     109 

pects  to  eat  anything1  with  impunity/'  And  so  on 
through  the  whole  bill  of  fare,  be  it  great  or  small. 
I  undertake  to  say  that  nothing  that  enters  into  the 
composition  of  the  diet  of  civilized  humanity  has 
escaped  denunciation  by  somebody,  at  some  time, 
as  being  unfit  for  human  food.  Moreover,  no  such 
denunciation  of  any  article  of  food  has  ever  been 
unproductive  of  its  legitimate  results,  namely,  a 
cloud  of  witnesses  in  confirmation  of  the  assertion. 
Do  I  hear  some  one  say  that  bread,  "  the  staff  of 
life,"  must  be  excepted  from  this  wholesale  state- 
ment? If  any  one  supposes  that  bread  has  escaped, 
he  "  imagines  a  vain  thing."  A  few  years  ago  an 
American  lady  —  a  brand  "  new  woman  "  —  was 
casting  about  for  a  "  mission  "  in  life ;  that  is  to 
say,  she  longed  to  "  reform "  somebody  or  some- 
thing, it  mattered  not  what,  so  long  as  it  held  out 
to  her  a  prospect  of  standing  at  the  head  of  a  great 
"  movement."  To  that  end  it  must  be  something 
new,  startling,  original.  She  inclined  to  dietetics, 
not  because  she  knew  anything  of  the  subject,  but 
because  she  was  not  thus  encumbered.  In  looking 
over  the  list  of  foods  already  under  the  ban  of  the 
"  reformer,"  she  found  nothing  left  but  bread.  It 
is  true  that  bread  had  been  foully  dealt  with  by 
other  iconoclasts,  largely  in  the  way  of  rendering 
it  unpalatable  and  innutritions  by  making  it  princi- 
pally of  bran  and  other  refuse  material;  but  it  was 
decidedly  a  new  departure  to  denounce  bread  as  the 
"  staff  of  death,"  and  so  she  adopted  that  shibboleth 
as  the  key-note  of  her  system  of  dietetic  reform, 
and,  for  the  want  of  anything  else  to  live  on  which 
had  not  already  been  proven  by  her  predecessors  to 


1 10  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

be  unwholesome,  she  advised  mankind  to  live  on 
nuts. 

Fortunately  for  the  American  people,  they  are 
endowed  with  a  keen  sense  of  the  ridiculous,  which 
decidedly  limits  the  range  of  their  suggestibility; 
and,  consequently,  the  idea  did  not  "  take  "  in  this 
country  to  a  commercial  extent.  But  the  lady  flew 
to  England,  organized  a  Society  of  Bread-Haters 
and  Nut-Eaters,  started  a  magazine,  and  wrote  a 
book,  before  John  Bull  began  to  laugh. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  lady  was  entirely 
destitute  of  followers  even  in  this  country.  On  the 
contrary,  many  rose  up  to  testify  to  the  life-destroy- 
ing potency  of  bread  and  the  bland  beneficence  of 
nuts  as  an  article  of  daily  consumption  at  the  family 
table. 

It  will  now  be  seen  what  a  vast  congeries  of  sug- 
gestions adverse  to  health  the  American  stomach  is 
beset  withal.  I  have  spoken  of  the  public  press  as 
being  largely  responsible  primarily  for  this  state  of 
affairs.  But  when  we  reflect  that  what  is  said  in 
books  and  newspapers  is  repeated  over  and  over  at 
every  table  at  which  a  dietetic  crank  is  allowed  to 
feed,  it  will  be  seen  that  almost  every  family  is  more 
or  less  subjected  to  the  infliction  of  such  suggestions 
three  times  a  day.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  we  are 
known  as  a  "  nation  of  dyspeptics  "  ?  And  is  it  not 
self-evident  that  heretofore  cause  and  effect  have 
been  misplaced  and  misunderstood?  Europeans  tell 
us  that  our  diet  is  unwholesome,  and  hence  respon- 
sible for  those  ills  which  have  come  to  be  regarded 
as  peculiarly  American,  and  we  are  only  too  ready 
to  echo  the  refrain;  whereas  the  fact  is  that  in  no 


SUGGESTIONS  ADVERSE   TO  HEALTH     III 

nation  on  earth  is  the  average  table  so  bountifully 
supplied  with  good,  plain,  wholesome,  and  nutritious 
food  as  it  is  in  the  United  States.  It  is  a  common 
saying  that  the  average  European  cook  could  feed 
a  family  on  what  is  wasted  in  an  American  family 
of  the  same  size.  Doubtless  this  is  true;  but  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  it  must  be  a  European  family 
that  could  thus  subsist.  A  normal  American  would 
starve  to  death  on  the  same  concoction  of  waste 
materials. 

No;  the  average  American  need  not  be  ashamed 
or  afraid  of  either  his  diet  or  his  cuisine,  —  for 
there  is  absolutely  nothing  unwholesome  in  the  one, 
nor  unscientific  in  the  other.  But  he  should  avoid 
the  current  suggestions  relating  to  both,  as  he 
would  avoid  famine  or  a  pestilence;  for  such  sug- 
gestions as  we  have  been  considering  will  create  a 
famine  in  the  midst  of  abundance,  and  a  pestilence 
amidst  the  most  perfect  physical  environment.  It  is 
a  literal  fact  that  thousands  of  people  in  this  coun- 
try are  perishing  for  the  lack  of  proper  nutriment, 
simply  because  they  have  allowed  themselves  to  dwell 
upon  the  suggestions  contained  in  current  literature. 

Does  any  one  doubt  the  control  of  the  mind  over 
the  vital  processes  ?  Who  has  not  experienced  a  total 
suspension  of  the  digestive  functions  upon  the  recep- 
tion of  bad  news?  Who  has  not  experienced  a  sud- 
den and  total  loss  of  appetite  upon  hearing  certain 
disagreeable  subjects  discussed  at  the  table?  \Vho 
has  not  seen  half  the  guests  at  a  boarding-house  table 
suddenly  disappear  when  the  perennial  idiot  known 
as  the  boarding-house  wag  provides  himself  before- 
hand with  a  long  hair  and  pretends  to  pull  it  out  of 


113         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE  \ 

the  hash?  There  are  a  few  who  can  retain  sausages 
on  their  stomachs,  even  the  bologna,  in  the  presence 
of  the  "  humorist "  who  fancies  that  he  has  created 
an  original  joke  by  alluding  to  the  possible  constit- 
uent elements  of  the  sausage  of  commerce.  For- 
tunate indeed  is  the  man  who  can  hurl  defiance  at 
the  joker  by  saying,  "  You  can't  turn  my  stomach." 
It  not  only  indicates  a  healthy  stomach,  but  the  as- 
sertion itself  constitutes  an  effective  auto-suggestion 
which  fortifies  the  stomach  against  the  adverse  in- 
fluence of  the  original  suggestion  of  "  dog  "  in  the 
sausage. 

This  leads  us  to  the  consideration  of  the  sovereign 
remedy  for  all  the  manifold  evils  arising  from  the 
congeries  of  suggestions  which  we  have  been  con- 
sidering. Obviously  the  remedy  is  auto-suggestion; 
for  if  disease  can  be  created  by  one  suggestion, 
follows  that  it  can  be  cured  by  a  counter  suggestion. 
The  latter  may  be  made  by  one  person  to  another, 
as  by  a  mental  healer  to  his  patient;  or  it  may  be 
made  by  the  patient  himself,  —  which  is  known  as 
"  auto-suggestion."  Other  things  being  equal,  an 
auto-suggestion  is  more  potent  than  a  suggestion 
from  any  extraneous  source,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  an  auto-suggestion  is  generally  backed  by  the 
objective  convictions  of  the  patient,  whereas  sug- 
gestions by  another  may  directly  contravene  the  pa- 
tient's objective  reason  and  experience,  —  not  that 
the  latter  may  not  be  effective  when  it  is  made  with 
force  and  persistence,  but  that  the  former  are  more 
easily  and  naturally  effective,  either  as  a  moral  or  a 
therapeutic  agency. 

One  may,  therefore,  counteract  the  great  bulk  of 


SUGGESTIONS  ADVERSE   TO  HEALTH     113 

the  current  dietetic  suggestions  by  the  employment 
of  just  a  little  reason  and  common  sense.  If  he 
feels  that  he  must  read  what  every  crank  has  to  say 
about  diet  and  health,  let  him  ask  himself  if  there  is 
any  reasonable  foundation  for  the  diatribe  against 
the  particular  article  under  treatment,  and  in  nine 
cases  out  of  ten  he  will  find  that  it  contravenes  all 
reason  and  human  experience.  But  the  safest  plan 
is  to  refrain  from  reading  such  stuff;  for  the  ten- 
dency always  is  to  try  to  verify  what  one  reads  on 
such  subjects,  especially  if  one  is  ignorant  of  the 
potency  of  suggestion  and  its  tendency  to  create  ex- 
pected conditions.  This  is  on  the  principle  that  "  an 
ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a  pound  of  cure."  It 
is  always  easy  to  prevent  an  adverse  suggestion  from 
taking  effect  in  the  mind;  and  that  is  by  not  allow- 
ing it  to  find  an  entrance.  To  that  end  one  should 
never  allow  himself  to  think,  much  less  talk,  on  the 
subject  of  the  wholesomeness  or  digestibility  of  the 
food  that  is  set  before  him.  The  good  old  biblical 
rule  is  the  best :  "  Eat  what  is  set  before  you,  asking 
no  questions  for  conscience'  sake." 

Above  all,  having  partaken  of  a  dish,  do  not  go 
away  and  sit  down  to  watch  for  symptoms  of  in- 
digestion. If  one  does  that,  he  will  be  sure  to  find 
what  he  is  seeking.  The  best  rule  of  diet  is  to  eat 
what  you  like  to  eat,  in  due  moderation  of  course, 
and  never  allow  the  question  of  its  digestibility  to 
intrude  itself,  even  in  an  adverse  thought.  Indul- 
gence in  cheerful  conversation  during  and  immedi- 
ately after  meals  is  the  best  conceivable  "  dieteticall 
and  prophylaticall  receipt  of  wholesome  caution " 
against  acute  indigestion  or  chronic  dyspepsia.  In 


114        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

other  words,  keep  your  mind  off  your  stomach  dur- 
ing the  process  of  digestion,  and  you  will  soon  forget 
that  you  have  a  stomach.  The  immunity  of  animals 
and  idiots  from  diseases  of  the  digestive  organs, 
many  of  whom  eat  enormously  of  whatever  they  can 
get,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  beyond  the  reach 
of  suggestions  adverse  to  health.  Some  one  has  well 
said  that  if  the  current  dietetic  suggestions  could 
reach  the  mind  of  an  ostrich,  he  would  soon  be  un- 
able to  digest  a  boiled  potato. 


CHAPTER   VIII 
"PURITANICAL"   DIET  AND  MEDICINE 

Asceticism  of  our  Puritan  Ancestors.  —  Tendency  of  Primitive  Minds 
to  reason  by  Analogy.  —  Influence  of  Asceticism  on  Dietetics.  — 
The  Appetite  usually  a  Safe  Guide.  —  Dyspepsia  often  caused  by 
Suggestion.  —  The  Principle  of  Asceticism  in  the  Old  Medical 
Practice.  —  Importance  of  the  Law  of  suggestion  in  Connection 
with  Diet  and  Medicine. 

IN  saying  what  I  shall  have  to  say  under  the  above 
heading,  it  is  far  from  my  intention  to  cast  any 
reflections  upon  the  character  or  the  religion  of  our 
Puritan  ancestors.  It  is  only  in  reference  to  some 
salient  peculiarities  that  a  parallel  can  be  drawn 
which  justifies  the  title  to  this  chapter. 

It  was  these  peculiarities,  growing  insensibly  out 
of  an  ascetic  religion,  that  drew  from  Lord  Macaulay 
the  remark  that  the  Puritans  of  the  epoch  of  which 
he  was  writing  "  hated  bear-baiting,  not  because  it 
gave  pain  to  the  bear,  but  because  it  gave  pleasure 
to  the  spectators." 1  That  this  was  literally  true, 
Macaulay  then  proceeds  to  demonstrate  by  docu- 
mentary evidence. 

Of  course,  this  trait  of  character  constituted  no 
part  of  the  religion  of  Puritanism,  per  se;  but  it  is 
undeniable  that  the  characteristic  has  been  inherited 
by  later  generations  to  such  an  extent  that  in  this 
country,  at  least,  Puritanism  at  one  time  came  to  be 

1  History  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  154. 


, 


Il6         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

popularly  regarded  as  a  religion  the  fundamental 
tenet  of  which  was  that  whatever  is  pleasurable  is 
necessarily  sinful.  Whether  this  was  literally  true 
it  is  aside  from  our  purpose  to  inquire.  But  that 
the  acts  of  our  Puritan  ancestors  often  justified  the 
conclusion  is  a  matter  of  history.  It  is  sufficient  for 
our  present  purpose  to  know  that  the  rank  and  file 
so  believed,  and  that  their  belief  was  justified  by  the 
pulpit  utterances  of  such  leaders  as  the  Mathers,  the 
Baxters,  and  their  more  feeble  imitators.  Judging 
from  Baxter's  utterances,  for  instance,  it  would  seem 
that  the  only  pleasurable  emotion  which  he  consid- 
ered at  all  legitimate  was  the  holy  joy  naturally 
arising  from  the  assurance  that  all  other  sects  were 
destined  to  suffer  eternal  torment  in  the  next  world. 
This  pleasure  could  not  reasonably  be  denied  the 
"  saints ; "  for,  as  Baxter  informs  us,  God  himself 
will  take  infinite  pleasure  in  the  eternal  torments  of 
the  damned.1  But  all  other  pleasures  were  inhibited 
as  being  sinful.  Music,  dancing,  laughter,  feasting, 
public  amusements,  and  all  kinds  of  games  came 
under  the  ban;  and  they  even  sought  to  place  limi- 
tations upon  the  enjoyment  of  parental  love,  as  being 
displeasing  in  the  sight  of  a  jealous  God,  who  was 
apt  to  kill  the  child  whose  mother's  affection  for  her 
offspring  was  just  a  little  too  pronounced.  In  short, 
any  pleasurable  indulgence  that  would  afford  a  mo- 
mentary relief  from  the  contemplation  of  the  certainty 
and  imminence  of  death,  and  the  gloom  and  dampness 
of  the  grave,  was  held  to  be  essentially  wicked  and 
deserving  of  punishment  by  means  of  eternal  fire. 
Now,  it  is  a  singular  psychological  fact  that  when 

1  Saint's  Rest,  chap.  vi. 


"PURITANICAL"   DIET  AND  MEDICINE 

a  popular  idea  takes  possession  of  a  community  in 
relation  to  one  subject,  it  is  sure  to  be  carried  over 
to  other  subjects  where  an  analogy  is  supposed  to 
exist.  The  human  mind  at  a  certain  stage  of  evolu- 
tionary development  is  prone  to  seek  for  analogies, 
and  on  the  slightest  provocation  the  most  momen- 
tous "  scientific "  conclusions  will  be  drawn  from 
supposed  analogies,  when  in  point  of  fact  the  two 
subjects  have  absolutely  nothing  in  common.  Thus, 
the  metamorphosis  of  the  caterpillar  into  the  butter- 
fly has,  time  out  of  mind,  been  supposed  to  afford  a 
valid  scientific  argument  in  proof  of  the  immortality 
of  the  human  soul,  and  learned  logicians  have  sol- 
emnly set  it  forth  as  such  in  text-books  for  the  use 
of  schools  and  colleges.  The  butterfly  as  a  symbol 
of  immortality  is  beautiful  and  poetical,  but  con- 
sidered as  inductive  proof  of  the  survival  of  the 
human  soul  after  death,  it  is  grossly  illogical  and 
unscientific.  The  reason  is  obvious:  the  laws  gov- 
erning the  physical  structure  and  metamorphosis  of 
the  butterfly  are  laws  of  the  organic  world,  whereas 
the  laws  of  the  human  soul  are  spiritual  laws;  and 
it  is  axiomatic  that  no  legitimate  scientific  analogy 
exists  between  subjects  governed  by  different  laws. 
As  well  might  one  hope  to  solve  a  mathematical 
problem  by  the  rules  of  grammar. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  old  pagan  argument  against 
immortality  is  invalid  for  the  same  reason.  I  allude 
to  "  Averroeism,"  or  the  doctrine  of  "  emanation  and 
absorption,"  which  at  one  time  threatened  to  con- 
vert all  Europe  to  paganism.1  It  was  an  analogical 

1  See  "  A  Scientific  Demonstration  of  the  Future  Life  ; "  also 
Draper's  "  Conflict  between  Religion  and  Science." 


Il8         THE   LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

argument  of  the  same  specious  character  as  the  one 
alluded  to  in  favor  of  immortality,  for  that  it  sought 
to  justify  conclusions  relating  to  a  purely  spiritual 
question  by  reference  alone  to  phenomena  of  the 
material  universe. 

In  view  of  this  tendency  of  primitive  minds  to  find 
analogies  where  none  exist,  it  is  not  at  all  strange 
that  in  a  community  holding  fast  to  the  idea  that  in 
the  moral  and  social  realms  whatever  is  pleasurable 
is  sinful,  they  should  also  believe  that  in  the  gastro- 
nomic world  whatever  tastes  particularly  good  is 
necessarily  unwholesome,  and  that  the  efficacy  of 
medicines  is  proportioned  to  their  nastiness  and  the 
consequent  amount  of  discomfort  that  can  be  in- 
flicted on  the  patient  by  their  administration.  I  do 
not  undertake  to  say  that  this  doctrine  has  been 
authoritatively  formulated;  but  it  was  well  stated, 
according  to  a  newspaper  anecdote,  by  a  little  girl 
whose  Puritan  mother  had  refused  her  a  second  piece 
of  pie  on  the  ground  that  it  would  make  her  sick. 
"Oh,  mamma!"  exclaimed  the  afflicted  little  maiden, 
"  it  seems  as  though  everything  in  this  world  that 
is  real  nice  is  either  wicked  or  indigestible." 

This  expresses  the  true  situation  in  a  nutshell.  It 
is  probable  that  no  one  has  ever  formulated  the  idea 
that  food  is  unwholesome  in  proportion  to  its  pala- 
tability,  but  certain  it  is  that  an  incalculable  number 
of  people  habitually  act  upon  that  "  principle."  It 
is  equally  certain  that  it  is  the  outgrowth  —  uncon- 
scious, perhaps  —  of  the  popular  puritanical  idea,  as 
before  stated. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  fact  remains,  and  it  must 
be  dealt  with  in  this  connection ;  for  it  is  one  of  the 


"PURITANICAL"  DIET  AND  MEDICINE       1 19 

most  prolific  sources  of  suggestions  adverse  to  health 
that  the  American  people  have  to  encounter.  It  is 
obvious  that  if  such  a  rule  of  diet  be  adhered  to, 
there  must  be  a  vast  number  of  perfectly  whole- 
some articles  of  food  brought  under  the  ban  at 
every  table  where  the  rule  prevails.  Children  espe- 
cially are  made  to  suffer  by  being  deprived,  wholly 
or  in  part,  of  those  things  which  every  healthy 
normal  stomach  craves.  Besides,  the  constant  sug- 
gestions imparted  to  children  in  regard  to  the  in- 
digestibility  of  everything  that  they  are  fond  of 
inevitably  weakens  their  digestive  powers,  and  many 
are  thus  converted  into  chronic  dyspeptics  before 
their  milk  teeth  are  shed. 

Now,  there  are  certain  things  that  may  be  more 
effectively  used  as  illustrations  of  what  is  meant, 
because  of  a  radical  change  in  popular  opinion  in 
relation  to  them  within  a  few  years.  For  instance, 
half  a  century  ago  watermelons  were  under  the  ban, 
and  were  consequently  partaken  of  with  great  cau- 
tion and  many  misgivings  as  to  their  digestibility. 
Nobody  could  offer  a  plausible  explanation  why  a 
watermelon  contained  the  seeds  of  disease,  and  yet 
the  fact  remained  that  numerous  cases  of  cholera 
morbus  were  traced  to  indulgence  in  that  luxury. 
Children  were  especially  cautioned  against  eating  all 
they  wanted  of  it,  and  solemn  warnings  of  the 
wrath  to  come  accompanied  every  little  piece  that 
was  doled  out.  Of  course,  vigorous  introspection 
followed  every  indulgence,  and  everybody  who  ate 
watermelon  in  the  evening  went  to  bed  with  his 
mind  prepared  for  a  wrestle  with  cholera  morbus 
before  morning.  That  the  legitimate  result  of  the 


\ 


120         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

suggestion  frequently  followed,  goes  without  saying. 
A  notable  exception  must  be  made  in  favor  of  the 
nocturnal  small-boy  who  gorged  himself  to  reple- 
tion upon  stolen  watermelons.  He  was  immune,  for 
nobody  was  present  to  suggest  the  deadly  character 
of  the  fruit,  and  he  had  something  to  think  about 
besides  watching  for  symptoms  of  approaching  dis- 
solution. He  only  knew  that  watermelon  tasted 
good,  and  he  was  not  up  in  the  then  current  dietetic 
science  which  proscribed  watermelon  for  that  very 
reason. 

Fortunately  for  the  watermelon  trade,  as  well  as 
for  the  health  of  the  community,  it  was  discovered 
some  years  ago  that  there  is  absolutely  nothing  in 
the  constituent  elements  of  watermelon  to  justify  its 
bad  reputation.  The  celebrated  Dr.  Tanner  was  the 
first  to  call  public  attention  to  the  fact.  He  had 
analyzed  it  and  found  nothing  in  it  more  deadly 
than  a  little  sugar  mixed  with  a  large  proportion 
of  water.  He  experimented  with  it,  and  found  that 
it  was  more  easily  digested  than  any  other  known 
product  of  the  soil,  and  hence  he  chose  it  as  the  very 
best  and  safest  means  of  breaking  his  celebrated  forty 
days'  fast.  On  that  occasion  he  simply  gorged  him- 
self with  watermelon,  pure  and  simple,  to  the  con- 
sternation of  the  attending  physicians  and  the  horror 
of  the  general  public.  But  as  the  result  justified  the 
doctor's  prognosis,  the  watermelon  scored  a  signal 
triumph,  and  in  due  course  of  time  it  ceased  its  dia- 
bolical work,  and  now  everybody  eats  it  with  im- 
punity. The  suggestion  has  been  removed. 

Hard-boiled  eggs  is  another  very  popular  article 
of  diet  that  was  for  many  years  under  the  ban,  evi- 


"PURITANICAL"  DIET  AND  MEDICINE      121 

dently  for  no  other  reason  than  because  every  child 
likes  hard-boiled  eggs  better  than  he  does  the  half- 
cooked,  mussy,  soft-boiled  egg.  That  being  the 
case,  of  course  he  must  be  deprived  of  it,  on  the 
usual  ground;  or  if  one  is  reluctantly  given  to  him, 
he  is  duly  and  solemnly  informed  that  it  will  make 
him  sick.  This  state  of  affairs  continued  for  cen- 
turies, and  it  is  even  now  in  evidence  among  the 
more  ignorant  families.  But  the  prejudice  has  been 
gradually  dying  out  since  doctors  began  to  prescribe 
hard-boiled  eggs  as  a  highly  nutritious  and  easily 
digested  article  of  diet  for  dyspeptics.  They  argue 
that  cooking  food  until  it  is  palatable  does  not  render 
it  indigestible.  On  the  contrary,  the  palatability  of 
food  is  one  of  the  first  essentials  to  its  digestibility, 
for  the  reason  that  it  increases  the  secretion  of  saliva 
and  the  gastric  juices.  In  fact,  it  may  be  set  down 
as  a  general  rule,  that,  other  things  being  equal,  and 
the  element  of  suggestion  eliminated,  the  more  pala- 
table a  food  is,  the  easier  it  is  digested  and  assimi- 
lated. Hence  it  is  that  "  what  is  one  man's  meat  is 
another  man's  poison,"  —  which  is  but  another  way 
of  saying  that  not  all  digestive  organs  are  alike.  1 
That  which  is  easy  for  one  person  to  digest  is  diffi-  L 
cult  for  another;  but  as  a  rule  the  one  who  likes  a 
particular  article  is  the  one  who  can  digest  it,  and 
vice  versa.  In  fact,  it  may  be  set  down  as  a  dietetic 
axiom  that  -what  the  unpervcrted  stomach  craves  it 
can  digest.  By  "  unper verted  stomach  "  I  mean  one 
whose  powers  have  not  been  destroyed  by  suggestion 
or  other  abuses. 

Of  course,  this  is  the  exact  opposite  to  the  "  puri- 
tanical "  rule  of  which  we  have  been  speaking.     But 


122         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

physicians  are  rapidly  coming1  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  human  stomach  craves  most  that  which  it  most 
needs,  and  that  one's  appetite  is  a  pretty  safe  guide 
to  a  healthful  diet.  That  is  to  say,  the  subjective 
mind  instinctively  knows  the  needs  of  the  physical 
organism,  and  it  makes  its  wants  known  to  the  ob- 
jective consciousness  by  appropriate  stimuli.  Thus, 
in  the  presence  of  the  needed  food,  and  often  by 
thinking  of  it,  the  salivary  glands  are  stimulated  to 
action,  and  thus  the  first  prerequisite  to  good  diges- 
tion is  provided  in  an  increased  flow  of  saliva.  The 
stomach  itself  is  stimulated  to  action  by  the  same 
means,  and  a  consequent  secretion  of  the  gastric 
juices  is  induced,  thus  rendering  the  process  of  di- 
gestion easy  and  pleasurable.  It  follows  that  the 
opposite  course  will  produce  opposite  results,  and 
digestion  of  food  that  the  stomach  rejects,  or  does 
not  crave,  is  correspondingly  slow  and  difficult. 

Hence  it  is  that  the  intelligent  physician  of  the 
present  time  is  seemingly  careless  of  his  patient's 
diet,  and  generally  tells  him  to  eat  what  he  likes. 
If  he  restricts  the  diet  at  all,  it  is  generally  because 
the  patient  seems  to  expect  it,  and  perhaps  would 
be  unfavorably  impressed  if  the  doctor  failed  to 
make  a  showing  of  wisdom  in  that  way.  In  such 
cases  the  average  doctor  will  inhibit  something  that 
he  does  not  happen  to  like  himself;  and  each  one 
seems  to  have  his  pet  aversion.  I  knew  a  doctor  in 
Washington  whose  bete  noir  was  boiled  cabbage,  and 
he  invariably  told  his  patients  that  they  could  eat 
anything  they  liked  except  boiled  cabbage.  "  Boiled 
cabbage,"  he  would  oracularly  set  forth,  "  is  abso- 
lutely indigestible,  even  by  a  well  man,  to  say  noth- 


"PURITANICAL"  DIET  AND  MEDICINE      123 

ing  of  one  whose  stomach  is  weakened  by  disease." 
Of  course  the  majority  of  his  patients  knew  by  ex- 
perience that  for  any  one  who  likes  it  boiled  cab- 
bage is  perfectly  easy  to  digest,  and  that  it  is  a 
staple  article  of  diet  for  thousands  whose  stomachs 
have  never  revealed  their  existence  by  any  sensation 
except  that  of  hunger;  but  they  soon  learned  that 
the  doctor  would  wax  hysterical  if  they  ventured  to 
defend  boiled  cabbage  against  his  indictment.  Other 
doctors  have  their  pet  aversions  which  they  exploit 
in  a  similar  way,  but  there  are  few  left  who  venture 
to  adhere  to  the  old  rule  that  whatever  a  patient 
likes  must,  for  that  reason  alone,  be  inhibited. 

Half  a  century  ago  the  latter  rule  prevailed  largely 
among  the  medical  profession  in  this  country.  Of 
those  who  can  remember  so  far  back,  few  can  forget 
the  affectionate,  insinuating  solicitude  with  which  the 
average  doctor  and  the  nurse  would  urge  a  conva- 
lescing patient  to  try  to  think  of  something  that  he 
would  like  to  eat.  And  no  one  will  forget  the  fact 
that  when  some  article  was  named,  the  doctor  would 
invariably  shake  his  head,  look  preternaturally  wise, 
and  totally  and  inexorably  inhibit  that  particular 
article  as  being  hurtful,  indigestible,  and  otherwise 
altogether  unsuited  to  the  patient's  condition  at  that 
particular  stage  of  his  disease  or  of  his  convales- 
cence. After  securing  a  full  list  of  articles  that  the 
patient  thought  he  could  relish,  he  would  be  informed 
that  disease  had  so  vitiated  his  appetite  that  he  neces- 
sarily craved  only  those  articles  of  diet  that  were  in- 
jurious to  him  in  his  then  condition ;  and  the  homily 
would  end  by  the  prescription  of  some  "  sick  dish  " 
that  the  patient  had  already  been  fed  on  ad  nauseam, 


124         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

—  and  it  was  generally  some  tasteless,  innutritious 
mess  that  would  turn  the  stomach  of  a  hungry  dog. 
Many  cases  of  chronic  dyspepsia  were  traceable 
to  this  practice;  and  the  worst  of  it  was  that  the 
results  often  seemed  to  justify  the  practice.  Thus, 
a  physician  would  strenuously  inhibit  a  favorite  dish 
merely  because  the  patient  liked  it  and  wanted  it. 
The  inhibition  would  be  accompanied  by  the  usual 
homily  on  the  indigestibility  of  that  particular  article, 
and  the  patient  would  often  be  warned  to  be  very 
careful  about  indulging  too  freely  in  it  even  after 
his  health  was  restored.  The  suggestion  would  nat- 
urally take  effect;  and  it  frequently  happened  that 
the  patient  could  never  afterward  indulge  with  im- 
punity in  his  favorite  dish.  Nor  did  it  matter  how 
harmless  the  article  might  be.  I  knew  a  boy  once 
who  during  convalescence  was  urged  to  tell  what 
he  would  relish  most  in  the  way  of  food,  and  in 
reply  named  a  certain  variety  of  apples  of  which 
he  was  particularly  fond.  Of  course  he  could  not 
have  that  particular  variety,  and  he  was  asked  to 
name  another.  But  he  would  have  his  favorite  or 
none;  whereupon  he  was  told  that  he  could  have 
any  other  variety  in  the  orchard,  but  that  that  par- 
ticular apple  was  extremely  hard  to  digest,  and  that 
indulgence  in  it  would  most  likely  cause  a  relapse. 
He  was,  of  course,  forced  to  forego  his  desires,  and 
was  in  the  end  fed  on  that  which  he  most  abomi- 
nated. He  managed  to  survive  and  fully  regained 
his  health;  but  when  he  came  to  indulge  in  his 
favorite  variety  of  apples  he  found  that  they  invari- 
ably gave  him  a  fit  of  indigestion.  The  suggestion 
had  taken  effect.  That  it  was  suggestion,  pure  and 


"PURITANICAL"   DIET  AND  MEDICINE      12$ 

simple,  and  that  it  was  the  one  enforced  upon  him 
on  the  occasion  referred  to,  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  no  other  variety  of  apples  had  that  effect  upon 
his  digestive  apparatus.  That  the  suggestions  made 
at  the  same  time  in  regard  to  other  foods  did  not 
have  the  same  effect  upon  him,  was  doubtless  due 
to  the  fact  that  he  had  not  especially  craved  any- 
thing but  the  apples,  and  hence  the  inhibition  of 
other  things  had  not  so  surprised  and  annoyed  him. 
But  when  he  was  told  that  his  favorite  variety  of  jj 
apples  was,  more  than  any  other,  indigestible,  his  sur- 
prise and  annoyance  were  complete,  and  the  impres- 
sion was  lasting.  Be  that  as  it  may,  certain  it  is 
that  no  other  article  of  diet  troubled  him ;  and  many 
years  afterward,  when  he  came  to  a  knowledge  of  v 
the  law  of  suggestion,  he  was  enabled  to  "  throw  off 
the  spell "  by  a  vigorous  course  of  auto-suggestion, 
and  he  thus  restored  the  Rambo  to  the  list  of  diges- 
tible fruits. 

But  many  victims  of  dietetic  suggestions  made  on 
that  principle  during  convalescence  were  not  so  for- 
tunate; for  thousands  have  suffered  all  their  subse- 
quent lives  from  having  such  suggestions  enforced 
upon  them  in  regard  to  the  most  simple  and  whole- 
some articles  of  diet.  Most  of  them  believe  that 
their  sickness  was  responsible  for  their  subsequent 
stomach  troubles,  and  they  wonder  why  it  is  that 
their  former  favorite  foods  have  ceased  to  be  diges- 
tible, little  realizing  that  it  was  because  it  was  their 
favorite  food  that  the  doctor  inhibited  it  during 
convalescence. 

Happily,  as  before  intimated,  there  are  but  few 
dietetic  cranks  of  the  kind  left  among  the  doctors, 


126        THE  LAW   OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

and  the  patient  is  now  generally  left  to  choose  his 
own  diet,  except  in  certain  cases  where  solid  foods 
are  dangerous,  as  in  typhoid  fever.  But  many  vic- 
tims of  the  old  practice  still  survive  to  make  them- 
selves and  their  families  miserable  by  nursing  the 
delusion  that  "  whatever  is  real  nice  is  either  wicked 
or  indigestible." 

It  was  not,  however,  alone  in  regard  to  diet  that 
the  doctors  of  the  early  part  of  the  last  century  prac- 
tised upon  the  principle  that  whatever  was  gratify- 
ing to  the  patient  must,  for  that  reason,  be  inhibited. 
Thus,  it  was  long  held  as  a  cardinal  principle  of 
practice  in  cases  of  fever  that  the  patient  must  be 
kept  in  a  close,  warm  room,  and  on  no  account  be 
allowed  to  drink  cold  water,  or  even  to  indulge  in 
thoughts  of  snow  or  ice.  Why?  No  one  was  ever 
able  to  give  any  better  reason  than  that  fresh  air, 
cold  water,  or  ice  would  have  given  comfort  and 
pleasure  to  the  patient.  If  forced  to  attempt  a  phil- 
osophical explanation  of  the  "  system,"  it  would  be 
said  that,  "  being  sick,  the  patient's  tastes  are  viti- 
ated, the  whole  order  of  nature  is  reversed,  and  he 
necessarily  craves  only  that  which  is  hurtful."  Of 
course  the  explanation  was  as  idiotic  as  the  practice 
was  abominable;  but  it  revealed  its  origin  in  the 
then  prevalent  puritanical  idea  that  in  the  moral 
realm  whatever  is  pleasurable  is  necessarily  sinful. 

Other  illustrations  might  be  given  of  the  practice, 
for  they  were  numerous,  but  these  must  suffice.  I 
have  mentioned  this  one  because  it  was  typical ;  and 
no  one  who  suffered  from  a  fever  in  the  olden  time, 
and  survived  the  treatment,  will  fail  to  verify  what 
I  have  said.  Happily,  most  of  the  old  doctors  who 


"PURITANICAL"  DIET  AND  MEDICINE      I2/ 

practised  under  the  system  are  dead,  and  physicians 
of  the  present  day  have  reversed  the  practice.  A 
fever  patient  is  now  given  the  benefit  of  all  the 
fresh  air  available;  he  is  allowed  to  drink  all  the 
cold  water  he  wants;  chopped  ice  is  placed  within 
his  reach,  and  he  is  treated  to  cold  ablutions  at 
stated  intervals.  The  result  is  that  fever  is  no  longer 
an  unmitigated  torture,  and  even  typhoid  fever  is 
largely  shorn  of  its  ancient  horrors.  "  Good  nurs- 
ing "  is  now  the  salient  feature  of  treatment  of  that 
disease,  and  good  nursing  consists  in  doing  every- 
thing to  give  the  patient  comfort  by  mitigating  the 
severity  of  the  fever.  Under  the  old  regime  a  good 
typhoid-fever  nurse  was  one  who  would,  with  grim 
determination,  refuse  the  appeals  of  the  patient  for 
some  mitigation  of  the  torture  and  cram  a  hideous 
mixture  down  his  throat  at  frequent  intervals. 

Again,  the  popular  idea  of  medicine  was  derived 
from  the  same  puritanical  source.  Hence  it  was  that 
the  efficiency  of  medicine  was  measured  by  its  nasti- 
ness.  No  medicine  that  was  pleasant  to  the  taste  was 
considered  of  any  therapeutic  value  whatever.  The 
old  Thomsonian,  or  Botanical,  system  of  medicine 
was  apparently  devised  with  special  reference  to  that 
"  principle."  At  any  rate,  it  fell  on  fruitful  soil,  for 
it  made  its  appearance  at  the  supreme  psychological 
moment  when  the  value  of  all  things  was  measured 
by  the  one  standard.  If  there  was  any  other  stan- 
dard of  therapeutic  value  than  that  of  nastiness  in 
the  Thomsonian  materia  medica,  it  certainly  was  not 
manifest  to  the  taste.  In  that  system  the  relative 
therapeutic  values  of  its  different  medicines  were 
indicated  by  numerals;  and  No.  I  stood  for  that 


128         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

supreme  herbal  abomination  known  to  botanists  as 
lobelia  infiata.  If  that  herb  had  been  selected  to 
stand  at  the  head  of  the  list  solely  because  of  its 
nasty  taste,  no  better  selection  could  have  been  made. 
But  it  was  selected  because  no  human  stomach  could 
endure  its  presence  for  five  minutes  if  the  victim 
had  sufficient  vitality  left  to  throw  it  off.  In  other 
words,  it  was  used  solely  as  an  emetic;  and  an 
emetic  was  always  "  indicated "  under  the  Thom- 
sonian  system,  no  matter  what  the  disease  might 
be.  That  the  patient,  if  he  survived,  invariably  felt 
better  after  recovering  from  the  effects  of  a  lobelia 
emetic,  goes  without  saying;  for  it  would  be  im- 
possible for  him  to  feel  worse  than  when  that  par- 
ticular variety  of  emetic  was  performing  its  mission. 
There  are,  in  fact,  more  reasons  than  one  why  he 
should  feel  better  after  such  an  ordeal.  In  the  first 
place,  he  feels  both  glad  and  surprised  to  find  him- 
self alive;  and  as  the  discomforts  of  illness  are  com- 
parative, a  lobelia  emetic  causes  all  other  human 
miseries  to  seem  pleasurable.  Moreover,  if  he  sur- 
vive,  he  is  encouraged,  for  his  doctor  is  then  en- 
abled to  pronounce  a  favorable  prognosis.  Such  an 
abounding  vitality  was  equal  to  any  emergency. 
This,  in  point  of  fact,  was  the  secret  of  the  unde- 
niable success  which  attended  the  Thomsonian  sys- 
tem of  practice  in  its  early  days.  In  addition  to  the 
universal  nastiness  of  its  decoctions,  it  required  each 
patient  to  go  through  a  certain  definite  "  course  of 
medicine,"  in  which  the  lobelia  emetic,  followed  by 
steaming  and  sweating,  was  the  never-failing  initia- 
tory torture.  If  his  vitality  was  equal  to  the  strain, 
well  and  good;  if  not,  his  death  was  charged  up 


"PURITANICAL"   DIET  AND  MEDICINE 

to  Divine  Providence,  or  to  the  doctor  having  been 
called  too  late,  or  to  the  "  'Pothecary  doctors  "  pre- 
viously in  charge  of  the  case. 

This,  however,  is  a  slight  digression.  My  prin- 
cipal object  in  writing  this  chapter  and  the  one 
preceding  it  is  to  show  what  an  infinite  variety  of 
suggestions  adverse  to  health  are  current  in  every 
civilized  community;  my  ultimate  object  being  to 
impress  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader  the  importance 
of  studying  the  law  of  suggestion  in  its  relations  to 
that  most  important  of  the  affairs  of  every-day  life, 
—  the  diet  upon  which  he  feeds  himself  and  those 
dependent  upon  him. 

No  one  needs  to  be  told  of  the  prepotent  influence 
upon  his  health  of  the  food  he  eats,  nor  does  any  one 
need  to  be  informed  that  the  benefit  which  one  de- 
rives from  food  depends  upon  his  powers  of  diges- 
tion and  assimilation;  but  the  majority  of  people 
do  need  to  be  informed  that  their  powers  of  diges- 
tion and  assimilation  are  absolutely  within  their 
own  control.  This  is,  indeed,  the  most  important 
fact  connected  with  the  science  of  mental  medicine; 
and  when  it  is  once  generally  understood,  appreci- 
ated, and  intelligently  acted  upon,  the  science  of  heal- 
ing disease  by  any  process,  mental  or  material,  will 
be  found  to  be  of  comparatively  little  importance. 


CHAPTER   IX 

AUTO-SUGGESTION 

The  Fundamental  Psychological  Principles  restated.  —  Fatal  Potency 
of  Fear  in  Epidemics.  —  Pathological  Power  of  "  Expectant  Atten- 
tion." —  Appendicitis.  —  Any  Disease  that  can  be  induced  by  Sug- 
gestion can  be  avoided  by  Counter-Suggestion  or  by  ignoring 
Adverse  Suggestion.  —  Avoidance  of  Adverse  Suggestion.  —  Sug- 
gestion in  Connection  with  Habitual  Drunkenness  and  Dipsomania. 
—  Counter-Suggestion  as  a  Prophylactic.  —  Danger  of  Injudicious 
Sympathy.  —  False  Dietetic  Suggestions  to  Children. 

THE  reader  will  now  once  more  recall  the  funda- 
mental psychological  propositions  upon  which 
the  science  of  mental  medicine  is  based.    They  are : — 

1.  That  man  is  endowed  with  a  dual  mental  or- 
ganism, or  mind,  —  objective  and  subjective. 

2.  The  subjective  mind  is  constantly  amenable  to 
control  by  the  power  of  suggestion. 

3.  The   subjective  mind   controls   the   functions, 
sensations,  and  conditions  of  the  body. 

At  the  risk  of  undue  repetition,  I  again  call  at- 
tention to  the  obvious  fact  that  if  these  propositions 
are  true,  man  possesses  within  his  own  organism 
the  means  and  the  power  to  control  disease,  with  or 
without  aid  from  extraneous  sources. 

I  have  now  at  some  length  discussed,  seriatim, 
the  above  propositions  with  the  object  of  impressing 
their  exact  truth  upon  the  mind  of  the  student,  to 
the  end  that  when  he  undertakes  to  apply  them  to 


A  UTO-SUGGES  TION  I 3 1 

practical  uses  he  may  know  that  he  is  wholly  within 
the  realm  of  scientific  truth,  and  not  groping  in  the 
darkness  of  mediaeval  mysticism  or  savage  super- 
stition. In  other  words,  I  desire  to  inspire  the  mind 
of  the  student  with  that  perfect  faith  which  alone 
is  born  of  a  knowledge  of  scientific  truth,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  faith  inspired  by  authority  invested 
with  mystery  and  occultism.  Such  was  the  faith  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  was  endowed  with  a  per- 
fect knowledge  of  the  laws  of  the  human  soul  and 
of  its  power  over  the  material  universe,  and  he  knew 
how  to  direct  its  energies  in  the  healing  of  the  dis- 
eases of  the  body.  This  was  the  secret  of  his  tran- 
scendent power, — of  his  never- fail  ing  success  where 
the  conditions  could  be  commanded  in  the  patient. 
He  could  not  teach  the  science  of  mental  therapeutics 
to  his  disciples,  for  they  were  mentally  unprepared 
to  receive  or  assimilate  it.  Their  faith,  therefore, 
was  dependent  alone  upon  the  words  and  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Master;  and  hence  the  frequent  fluc- 
tuations of  their  power,  even  in  his  presence. 

It  may  be  that  science  will  never  be  able  to  impart 
a  knowledge  of  the  law  of  mental  healing  in  such 
perfection  as  Jesus  possessed  it;  but  in  view  of  his 
promises,  may  we  not  reasonably  hope  to  attain  a 
knowledge  sufficient  for  the  practical  purposes  of 
life. 

It  is  in  this  hope  that  I  have  endeavored  to  point 
out  what  I  conceive  to  be  at  least  a  valid  working 
hypothesis  for  mental  medicine.  To  that  end  I  have 
discussed  inductively  the  three  fundamental  propo- 
sitions, with  what  success  the  reader  must  judge.  I 
have  also  pointed  out  some  of  the  sources  of  danger 


132        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

arising  from  popular  ignorance  of  the  law  of  sug- 
gestion. I  have  dwelt  upon  the  innumerable  sug- 
gestions adverse  to  health  which  constantly  beset  the 
people  of  civilized  countries,  and  pointed  out  some 
of  their  sources.  I  have  laid  particular  stress  upon 
those  suggestions  which  attack  the  digestive  organs, 
because  they  are  the  most  common  and  easily  recog- 
nized, and,  on  the  whole,  the  most  important.  Ob- 
viously, whatever  impairs  our  powers  of  digestion 
and  assimilation  saps  the  citadel  of  our  material 
power.  But  in  dwelling  upon  that  particular  source 
of  popular  danger  from  suggestion,  it  must  not  be 
inferred  that  other  diseases  are  excluded.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  well  known  that  there  is  no  disease 
of  the  human  body  that  may  not  be  created,  or  sim- 
ulated, by  the  power  of  mind  when  stimulated  by 
suggestion.  It  is  asserted  by  physicians  of  experi- 
ence that  in  cholera  epidemics  a  large  proportion 
—  more  than  half  —  of  the  cases  are  the  result  of 
"  fear,"  otherwise  suggestion.  There  is  nothing  to 
distinguish  such  cases  from  those  of  true  Asiatic 
cholera,  except,  perhaps,  the  absence  of  the  true 
cholera  germ,  or  bacillus,  in  the  suggestive  cases. 
It  is  certain  that  all  the  salient  symptoms  of  true 
cholera  are  present  in  that  which  is  induced  by  sug- 
gestion, and  that  the  percentage  of  fatal  cases  is 
greater  in  the  latter  class  of  cases. 

Again,  it  is  well  known  that  almost  any  one 
can  cause  an  increased  flow  of  blood  to  any  part 
or  organ  of  the  body  by  merely  concentrating  his 
attention  upon  the  part.  If  this  can  be  done  experi- 
mentally, it  follows  that  persistence  in  such  concen- 
tration will  eventually  induce  congestion,  especially 


A  UTO-SUGGESTION  1 3  3 

if  the  concentration  is  prompted  by  fear  of  disease 
of  the  organ.  It  follows  that  no  organ  of  the  human 
body  is  immune  from  that  prolific  cause  of  disease. 

I  know  that  I  shall  be  trespassing  upon  the  do- 
main of  a  popular  surgical  fad  when  I  venture  to 
instance  appendicitis  as  a  possible  example  of  a  dis- 
ease caused  by  "  expectant  attention  "  or  suggestion. 
Certain  it  is  that  in  the  good  old  days,  before  it 
was  generally  known  that  man  had  such  a  thing  as 
a  vermiform  appendix  concealed  about  his  person, 
cases  of  appendicitis  were  very  rare;  and  when  one 
did  come  to  light  it  was  invariably  said  to  be  due 
to  the  presence  of  some  foreign  substance,  —  gen- 
erally a  seed  of  some  fruit  that  the  patient  had 
eaten.  But  since  it  was  discovered  that  the  vermi- 
form appendix  can  be  removed  for  a  few  hundred 
dollars  without  necessarily  killing  the  patient  out 
of  hand,  the  people  have  been  educated  in  respect  to 
that  mysterious  portion  of  their  anatomy;  and  cases 
of  appendicitis  have  multiplied  proportionately,  so 
that  now  it  must  be  a  very  ignorant  man  (or  a 
very  poor  one)  who  cannot  manage  to  have  at  least 
one  case  of  appendicitis;  and  no  surgeon  can  prop- 
erly be  considered  up  to  date  who  has  been  unable  to 
capture  at  least  half-a-dozen  vermiform  appendices. 

I  am  not  unmindful  that  surgeons  are  provided 
with  a  very  plausible  explanation  of  this  phenome- 
nal increase  of  cases  of  appendicitis  within  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century.  They  explain  it  on  the  ground 
that  there  are  really  no  more  cases  of  appendicitis 
now  than  formerly,  in  proportion  to  the  population, 
but  that,  owing  to  ignorance,  the  doctors  formerly 
attributed  such  cases  to  other  causes,  such  as  peri- 


134         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

tonitis,  and  thus  sacrificed  many  lives  that  might 
have  been  saved  by  an  operation,  had  the  seat  of  the 
disease  been  recognized. 

Candor  compels  the  admission  that  there  may  be 
much  truth  in  the  explanation.  But  it  certainly  does 
not  account  for  all  the  increase,  nor  does  it  explain 
certain  salient  peculiarities  of  modern  appendicitis. 
For  instance,  formerly  that  disease  was  always  at- 
tributed to  the  presence  of  some  irritant  foreign 
substance  in  the  mouth  of  the  appendix;  now,  in 
more  than  half  of  the  cases,  no  foreign  substance  is 
found.  But,  in  all  reported  cases,  serious  inflamma- 
tion was  found  to  exist,  —  enough,  at  least,  to  con- 
firm the  doctor's  diagnosis  and  justify  the  operation. 
What  the  unreported  cases  reveal  there  is  no  means 
of  knowing. 

One  of  the  salient  peculiarities  of  the  modern 
variety  of  appendicitis  is  that  it  prevails  most  among 
the  educated,  refined,  and  well  to  do.  It  seems  to 
avoid  carefully  the  homes  of  poverty  and  ignorance. 
I  have  no  statistics  to  verify  this  statement,  and  it 
may  be  all  wrong.  But  it  is  popularly  believed  to 
be  true  that  "  appendicitis  is  the  rich  man's  disease." 
I  certainly  have  never  known  of  a  case  that  contra- 
dicts that  belief. 

But  it  would  be  grossly  unjust  to  the  medical 
profession  to  accept  the  popular  explanation  of  the 
fact,  which  is,  of  course,  that  the  doctor's  diagnosis 
is  governed  by  the  ability  of  the  patient  to  pay  for 
an  operation.  This  is  not  only  palpably  unjust,  but 
it  is  unnecessary.  In  fact,  if  there  was  no  other 
explanation,  I  should  doubt  the  fact,  "  for  they  are 
all  honorable  men."  To  those  who  have  followed 


A  UTO-SUGGESTION  135 

what  has  been  said  in  regard  to  the  potency  of  sug- 
gestion, it  will  be  apparent  that  the  prevalence  of  the 
disease  among  the  educated  classes  is  just  what  one 
might  expect,  for  the  following  reasons :  — 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  only  the  educated  classes 
who  know  much  about  the  disease,  and  it  requires 
some  knowledge  of  anatomy  to  locate  definitely  the 
vermiform  appendix.  The  essential  conditions  neces- 
sary to  enable  one  to  concentrate  his  mind  upon  that 
appendage  are,  therefore,  present  with  the  well  in- 
formed and  entirely  absent  in  the  minds  of  the  igno- 
rant. That  is  to  say,  one  must  know  where  to  expect 
pain  before  he  can  induce  it  by  "expectant  attention." 
The  ignorant,  however,  are  not  always  immune,  pro- 
vided they  think  they  know  where  to  look  for  un- 
toward symptoms,  and  are  cursed  with  a  morbid 
suggestibility.  For  instance,  I  knew  one  of  that 
class  who  once  became  excited  on  the  subject  of 
appendicitis,  and  proceeded  to  inquire  of  a  friend 
just  where  the  vermiform  appendix  might  be  found. 
His  friend,  knowing  his  proneness  to  experience  the 
symptoms  of  every  disease  he  happened  to  read  about, 
purposely  misinformed  him  by  giving  him  to  under- 
stand that  it  was  located  on  the  left  side  of  the  lower 
abdomen.  As  usual,  he  began  to  watch  for  symp- 
toms; and,  as  usual,  he  was  soon  rewarded  by  feel- 
ing a  decided  uneasiness  in  the  locality  named.  In 
less  than  a  week  he  felt  compelled  to  appeal  to  a 
specialist  for  relief,  —  which  was  instantly  afforded, 
both  as  to  his  mind  and  his  body,  by  being  informed 
that  he  had  selected  the  wrong  locality  for  a  good 
case  of  appendicitis.  Nevertheless,  it  required  the 
application  of  hot  fomentations  to  relieve  the  in- 


136        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

flammation  that  had  actually  been  induced  in  the 
suggested  location.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  if  he 
had  been  correctly  informed  by  his  friend,  the  surgeon 
would  not  have  been  defrauded  of  a  genuine  case. 

Again,  appendicitis  is  such  a  formidable  proposi- 
tion, so  distressing  while  it  lasts,  and  its  cure  fraught 
with  such  danger  to  life,  that  it  naturally  excites  the 
utmost  dread  in  the  minds  of  those  who  are  familiar 
with  the  current  literature  on  the  subject.  It  would, 
therefore,  constitute  an  exception  to  all  known  dis- 
eases if  it  failed  to  be  attended  with  the  usual  results 
due  to  morbid  suggestibility.  The  class  thus  afflicted, 
after  reading  up  on  the  subject,  begin  by  being  very 
careful  not  to  swallow  any  more  fruit  seeds;  and  if 
one  accidentally  slips  down,  they  immediately  begin 
to  concentrate  their  minds  upon  their  insides.  The 
slightest  symptom  of  uneasiness  in  the  proper  local- 
ity is  magnified  a  thousand  fold,  vigilance  is  re- 
doubled and  intensified,  and  the  consequent  pain  and 
inflammation  is  induced.  The  result  is  an  opera- 
tion, revealing  a  case  of  appendicitis  minus  a  tangi- 
ble cause.  The  expected  seed,  or  other  irritant,  is 
not  in  evidence. 

Another  exciting  cause  of  morbid  suggestibility 
on  this  subject  is  the  mystery  with  which  science  — 
or  the  want  of  it  —  has  invested  the  vermiform  ap- 
pendix. Scientists  tell  us  that  it  is  the  vestigial 
remains  of  some  organ  that  is  no  longer  useful, 
whatever  it  may  have  been  to  our  remote  ancestors. 
This  may  be  true;  but  the  idea  seems  analogous  to 
other  assertions  of  science  which  are  obviously  made 
to  conceal  ignorance.  Thus,  scientists  are  prone  to 
deny  the  existence  of  all  occult  things  that  they  can- 


A  UTO-SUGGESTION  137 

not  explain,  as  in  psychic  phenomena.  But  the  ver- 
miform appendix  is  a  tangible  reality  the  existence 
of  which  cannot  be  denied;  and  inasmuch  as  they 
are  ignorant  of  its  uses,  they  declare  it  to  be  useless. 
In  other  words,  according  to  the  theory  of  science, 
nature  made  a  mistake  in  creating  it,  —  a  mistake 
all  the  more  flagrant  and  inexcusable  in  that  this 
" f unctionless  organ"  (Gray)  was  placed,  not  where 
it  would  do  the  most  good,  but  where  it  is  a  constant 
menace  to  life. 

If  nature  were  in  the  habit  of  making  mechanical 
mistakes  in  the  construction  of  vital  organs,  the  ap- 
pendix vermiformis  might  be  charged  up  to  that 
source;  but,  as  no  other  organ  has  been  found  to 
be  functionless,  it  must  be  presumed  that  God  is 
wiser  than  man,  —  wiser,  if  possible,  than  the  scien- 
tists who  can  find  no  other  than  professional  uses 
for  the  vermiform  appendix,  —  and  that  in  the  ful- 
ness of  time  that  organ  will  be  able  to  find  a  valid 
excuse  for  existing.  In  the  meantime  it  will  con- 
tinue to  be  constantly  enhancing  in  value  as  a  source 
of  revenue  for  surgeons,  so  long,  at  least,  as  the 
public  remains  in  ignorance  of  the  potency  of  sug- 
gestions adverse  to  health. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  remarks  made  in  regard  to 
cholera  and  appendicitis  apply  with  equal  force  and 
pertinency  to  hundreds  of  other  prevailing  diseases, 
as  well  as  to  those  diseases  of  the  digestive  organs 
mentioned  in  preceding  chapters.  The  lesson  is  ob- 
vious, and  it  applies  to  all  alike.  It  is  that  — 

Any  disease  that  can  be  induced  by  suggestion 
can  be  avoided  either  by  a  counter  suggestion  or  by 
ignoring  the  adverse  suggestion. 


138        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

This  is  the  most  important  lesson  that  any  school 
of  mental  medicine  has  to  teach,  and  it  is  but  a  prac- 
tical expression  of  the  old  aphorism  that  "  an  ounce 
of  prevention  is  worth  a  pound  of  cure."  Moreover, 
it  is  a  lesson  that  any  one  can  put  into  instant  prac- 
tice and  reap  an  immediate  reward.  The  science  of 
mental  healing  is,  indeed,  important;  but  it  requires 
more  or  less  training  and  experience,  whereas  the 
ability  to  avoid  disease  by  mental  processes  is  within 
easy  reach  of  all  sane  persons  who  understand  the 
fundamental  principles,  or  the  salient  facts,  of  the 
law  of  suggestion. 

The  following  self-evident  propositions  will  make 
my  meaning  clear:  — 

1.  The  efficacy  of  mental  medicine  is  dependent 
upon  mental  conditions. 

2.  Mental  healing  is  accomplished  by  the  induc- 
tion of  favoring  mental  conditions  in  the  patient. 

3.  The   one   prepotent   means   of   inducing   that 
mental  condition  is  suggestion. 

4.  The  power  or  energy  that  is  capable  of  in- 
ducing a  mental  condition  favorable  to  healing  dis- 
ease is  capable  of  preventing  disease  by  the  same 
process. 

5.  The  power  that  is  equal  to  the  task  of  either 
preventing  or  healing  disease  by  mental  processes 
is  necessarily  equal  to  the  production  of  disease,  con- 
ditions being  reversed. 

6.  Suggestion,    therefore,    is    the   one   prepotent 
mental  energy  which  is  capable  of  inducing,   pre- 
venting, or  healing  disease. 

It  follows  that  suggestion  is  of  practical  value  to 
man  in  exact  proportion  to  the  uses  which  he  makes 


A  UTO-SUGGESTION  1 3  9 

of  it.  That  is  to  say,  he  may  make  it  a  blessing  or 
a  curse  according  to  the  uses  for  which  it  is  em- 
ployed. But  use  it  he  must,  for  it  pervades  the 
mental  atmosphere  as  the  sunlight  of  heaven  per- 
vades the  solar  system.  He  cannot  escape  it,  for 
it  is  one  of  nature's  all-pervasive  forces  and  knows 
no  variableness  nor  shadow  of  turning.  Like  every 
other  law  of  nature,  it  is  primarily  for  the  highest 
benefit  of  mankind;  but,  like  every  other  beneficent 
energy,  it  may  destroy  him  if,  either  through  ig- 
norance or  perversity,  he  fails  to  place  himself  in 
harmony  with  it. 

It  is  a  maxim  of  criminal  jurisprudence  that 
"  ignorance  of  the  law  excuseth  no  man " ;  yet 
courts  and  juries  sometimes  exercise  a  discretionary 
clemency  in  cases  where  it  is  clear  that  no  wrong 
was  intended.  But  nature  is  inexorable  in  the  ex- 
action of  the  fullest  penalties  for  the  violation  of 
her  laws,  whether  through  perversity  or  ignorance; 
and  as  I  have  before  remarked,  the  more  benefi- 
cent the  law,  the  more  severe  are  the  penalties  for 
its  violation. 

I  have  pointed  out  the  fact  that  in  this  country 
popular  ignorance  of  the  law  of  suggestion  has  made 
us  a  nation  of  dyspeptics,  multiplied  the  rate  of  mor- 
tality in  epidemic  diseases,  and  virtually  created  a 
new  surgical  disease,  painful  to  the  last  degree,  fatal 
if  not  cured,  and  dangerous  in  the  extreme  in  the 
process  of  cure;  and  yet  I  have  covered  only  a  small 
part  of  the  field  where  ignorance  of  the  law,  and  false 
suggestions,  are  doing  their  fatal  work.  I  have  done 
this,  not  as  an  alarmist,  not  for  the  purpose  of  ad- 
vertising and  promoting  the  sale  of  a  new-fangled 


140         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

patent  nostrum,  —  not  even  for  the  purpose  of  ad- 
vocating a  new  system  of  healing  disease.  In  Part 
II.  of  this  book  I  shall  point  out  what  I  conceive  to 
be  the  most  rational  method  of  practising  the  art 
of  mental  healing.  But  thus  far  I  have  devoted  my 
energies  to  the  task  of  familiarizing  the  public  mind 
with  the  fundamental  law  the  violation  of  which  en- 
tails disease  everywhere,  to  the  end  that  I  might  point 
out  a  remedy,  without  money  and  without  price,  and 
within  the  reach  of  all,  whereby  the  great  bulk  of  cur- 
rent diseases  may  be  avoided,  and  doctors  and  their 
medicines  relegated  to  a  state  of  innocuous  desuetude. 

Those  who  have  followed  my  remarks  thus  far 
have  already  anticipated  the  substance  of  the  few 
words  of  advice  with  which  I  propose  to  close  this 
part  of  my  work. 

There  are  two  ways  of  avoiding  the  effects  of  cur- 
rent suggestions  adverse  to  health:  the  first  is  by 
avoiding  the  suggestions  themselves;  and  the  second 
is  by  opposing  a  counter  self-suggestion.  The  first 
is  the  easier  and  more  effective;  but  it  applies  prin- 
cipally to  those  whose  health  is  not  already  impaired 
by  adverse  suggestions  or  other  influences. 

What  is  here  meant  by  avoiding  adverse  sugges- 
tions is  that  one  should  avoid  reading,  talking,  or 
thinking  about  pathological  conditions  of  the  hu- 
man body.  This  may  seem  like  an  advocacy  of 
popular  ignorance  of  those  subjects;  and  in  a  sense 
it  is  such.  But  it  is  justified  on  the  ground  that  the 
health  of  the  masses  is  of  greater  importance  than 
popular  education  in  pathology.  Besides,  the  inhi- 
bition does  not  exclude  a  proper  amount  of  popular 
education  in  anatomy  and  physiology.  But  the  study 


'  AUTO-SUGGESTION  141 

of  disease  should  be  restricted  to  those  who  expect 
to  engage  in  the  practice  of  the  art  of  healing  the 
sick.  In  this  connection  the  reader  will  not  forget 
what  has  been  said  of  the  proneness  of  medical  stu- 
dents, and  even  of  some  doctors,  to  evoke  in  them- 
selves, by  unconscious  auto-suggestion,  the  symptoms 
of  every  disease  they  are  called  upon  to  study. 

My  remarks,  however,  are  not  intended  to  apply 
to  the  acquisition  of  a  truly  scientific  knowledge  of 
pathology,  whatever  the  object  may  be;  but  it  is 
hoped  that  they  may  serve  as  a  warning,  even  to 
medical  students,  against  the  practice  of  "  introspec- 
tion "  with  'the  view  of  finding  symptoms  corre- 
sponding with  those  they  are  studying.  What  I  do 
strongly  advise  against  is  the  common  practice  of 
reading,  studying,  and  inwardly  digesting  the  popu- 
lar literature  on  the  subjects  of  disease,  and  espe- 
cially of  diet.  I  have  already  stated  my  reasons  at 
some  length,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  beyond 
reminding  the  reader  that  the  current  stuff  on  those 
subjects  is  generally  written  by  those  who  know  least 
about  them,  —  often  by  cranks  who  are  themselves 
the  victims  of  false  suggestions  by  other  cranks,  and 
they  of  others,  and  so  on  ad  infinitum.  We  have 
already  seen  how  a  false  suggestion,  based  upon  a 
false  premise,  perpetuates  itself  from  generation  to 
generation  and  spreads  itself  over  new  domains 
which  are  entirely  foreign  to  the  original, — as  from 
religion  to  diet  and  from  diet  to  medicine,  etc. 

Horace  Greeley  once  remarked  that  "  the  way  to 
resume  specie  payments  is  to  resume."  In  like  man- 
ner the  lesson  we  are  seeking  to  enforce  may  be 
summarized :  The  way  to  avoid  suggestions  adverse 


142         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

to  health  is  to  avoid  them.  That  is  to  say,  never 
allow  them  to  enter  your  mind  from  any  avoidable 
source;  and  if  they  have  been  thrust  upon  you  by 
others,  avoid  dwelling  upon  them  in  your  medita- 
tions. Above  all,  do  not  make  a  personal  applica- 
tion to  yourself  of  everything  you  chance  to  hear 
about  the  food  that  others  have  found  by  personal 
experience  to  be  hurtful,  for  the  chances  are  a  thou- 
sand to  one  that  they  are  themselves  simply  the  vic- 
tims of  false  suggestions.  In  other  words,  avoid 
"  introspection  "  while  eating  and  during  the  pro- 
cess of  digestion;  for  you  will  surely  find  what  you 
are  looking  for,  especially  if  you  are  expecting  symp- 
toms of  indigestion. 

Again,  as  you  value  the  well-being  of  your  family 
and  friends,  do  not  obtrude  your  own  ideas,-  if  you 
have  any,  about  the  unwholesomeness  of  particular 
dishes  on  the  bill  of  fare  before  you.  Remember 
that  others  have  rights  which  ought  to  be  indefeas- 
ible, among  which  is  the  right  to  the  undisturbed 
enjoyment  of  the  pleasures  of  the  table  and  the  con- 
sequent good  digestion.  But  if  you  are  an  average 
dietetic  crank,  this  advice  will  go  unheeded;  for 
that  ubiquitous  personality  enjoys  nothing  at  the 
table  except  making  his  own  infirmities  conspicuous 
and  warning  others  of  the  wrath  to  come  if  they 
indulge  in  anything  fit  to  eat.  It  is  a  fact,  confirmed 
by  extensive  observation,  that  one  such  crank,  turned 
loose  upon  a  perfectly  healthy  family,  with  digestive 
organs  previously  unimpaired,  will  gradually  inocu- 
late the  whole  family  with  his  mental  virus,  and 
cause  the  most  healthful  articles  of  food,  one  by 
one,  to  be  banished  from  the  table  as  indigestible. 


AUTO-SUGGESTION  143 

The  exercise  of  just  a  little  common  sense  will 
enable  you  to  avert  the  consequences  of  such  sug- 
gestions when  they  are  thrust  upon  you  at  the  table 
by  some  crank  whose  flow  of  eloquence  you  do  not 
feel  at  liberty  to  restrain.  All  one  needs  to  do, 
in  most  cases,  is  to  ask  oneself  what  reason  is 
found  in  common  experience,  or  in  the  inherent 
character  of  the  food  itself,  for  pronouncing  it  indi- 
gestible or  otherwise  hurtful.  If  none  be  found,  he 
is  provided  with  a  counter  suggestion  based  upon 
reason  and  experience,  and  it  is  his  own  fault  if  he 
allows  the  false  suggestion,  which  contravenes  reason 
and  experience,  to  obtain  the  mastery.  But  if,  on 
the  other  hand,  he  is  not  endowed  with  common 
sense,  or,  in  other  words,  if  he  belongs  to  the  class 
of  "  chronic  reformers,"  he  will  be  apt  to  accept  the 
false  suggestion  for  the  very  reason  that  it  con- 
demns the  habits  and  contravenes  the  experience  of 
mankind.  "  Whatever  is,  is  wrong "  being  their 
shibboleth,  they  condemn  every  existing  institution, 
custom,  or  habit  found  in  civilization;  and  hence 
they  inveigh  against  the  common  diet  of  civilized 
mankind  with  the  same  emotional  enthusiasm  that 
they  would  manifest  in  a  crusade  against  the  insti- 
tution of  human  slavery.  In  point  of  fact,  the 
chronic  reformer  is  a  factor  that  must  be  reckoned 
with,  in  more  ways  than  one,  when  dealing  with 
suggestions  adverse  to  health  and  the  good  order  of 
society,  for  he  is  as  apt  to  attack  the  practice  of 
monogamy  as  of  polygamy;  and  even  when  he  in- 
stitutes a  crusade  against  the  recognized  evils  of 
society,  he  frequently  does  more  harm  than  good. 
He  not  only  brings  his  cause  into  disrepute  by  in- 


144         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

temperate  zeal  and  idiotic  methods,  as  in  the  "hatchet 
crusade  "  for  the  reformation  of  drunkards,  but  the 
average  temperance  fanatic  is  full  of  suggestions  that 
have  a  direct  tendency  to  encourage  drunkenness. 
Thus,  the  drunkard  is  constantly  told  that  he  is  such 
because  it  is  "impossible  for  him  to  resist"  the  temp- 
tation to  drink  when  he  feels  like  it,  that  it  is  impos- 
sible for  him  to  reform  so  long  as  liquor  is  for  sale, 
and  that  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  resist  the  temp- 
tation to  abuse  his  family  when  he  is  drunk.  These 
suggestions  are  so  persistently  iterated  and  reiterated 
and  drummed  into  the  ears  of  the  "  poor  drunkards," 
that  nine-tenths  of  them  actually  believe  them,  and 
hence  regard  themselves  as  helpless  victims  to  be 
pitied  and  coddled,  rather  than  as  criminals  deserv- 
ing the  lash.  The  result  is  that  they  do  not  try  to 
resist,  because  the  suggestion  is  with  them  that  it  is 
impossible. 

The  most  potent  suggestion,  however,  that  the 
drunkard  is  beset  withal,  is  the  one  that  tells  him 
that  when  he  has  taken  one  drink  it  is  impossible 
for  him  to  refrain  from  taking  a  second,  and  a 
third,  and  so  on,  until  he  is  in  a  condition  that  ren- 
ders it  necessary  for  him  to  go  home  and  pound  his 
wife.  The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek. 

It  is  well  known  to  psychologists  that  drunkards, 
especially  of  the  class  now  referred  to,  are  thrown 
into  the  subjective  condition  by  drinking  anything 
intoxicating.  This  is  true  of  most  people;  but  it  is 
especially  true  of  those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  drink- 
ing to  excess,  and  in  many  cases  one  glass  is  suffi- 
cient to  induce  the  subjective  condition  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  render  them  extremely  amenable  to  sug- 


AUTO-SUGGESTION  145 

gestion.  It  follows  that  when  one  of  that  class  has 
taken  one  drink,  the  ever-present  suggestion  that  he 
cannot  refrain  from  taking  another,  exerts  its  full 
influence  upon  him;  and  the  result  is  that  he  does 
not  try  to  resist  the  temptation  to  plunge  into  a  pro- 
longed debauch.  When  remonstrated  with  after  the 
debauch  is  ended,  he  invariably  says  that  after  taking 
the  first  drink  he  is  moved  by  an  uncontrollable  im- 
pulse to  take  another,  after  which  he  loses  all  desire 
to  restrain  himself. 

This  indicates  the  purely  subjective  origin  of  the 
impulse,  and  distinguishes  it  from  the  ordinary  desire 
for  stimulants  arising  from  nervous  or  mental  de- 
pression. Its  subjective  origin  is  further  indicated 
by  the  fact  that  the  impulse  amounts  to  a  positive 
mania,  and  hence  it  is  designated  as  "  dipsomania," 
to  distinguish  it  from  ordinary  habitual  drunken- 
ness. Like  other  manias,  it  is  a  mental  disease  aris- 
ing from  some  form  of  suggestion;  and  the  only 
obvious  form  of  suggestion  that  could  produce  the 
result  would  be  such  as  I  have  indicated.  It  is  true 
that  it  may  be  partly  traditional;  but  at  any  rate  it 
is  kept  alive  and  potent  by  the  constantly  reiterated 
declaration  by  temperance  extremists  that  the  "  poor 
drunkard,"  having  once  tasted  liquor,  is  powerless 
to  restrain  himself  from  continuing  the  debauch. 
It  not  only  confirms  the  dipsomaniac  in  his  in- 
firmity, but  it  has  a  constant  tendency  to  convert 
the  ordinary  habitual  drunkard  into  a  victim  of 
that  most  appalling  and  dangerous  of  all  forms  of 
inebriety. 

This  may  seem  like  a  digression ;  but  it  is  justified 
by  its  importance,  as  showing  that  a  prolific  source 


146        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

of  suggestions  adverse  to  health,  as  well  as  to  the 
good  order  of  society,  is  found  in  the  fanatics  and 
degenerates  who  infest  every  civilized  community. 
Nothing  is  too  sacred  to  be  meddled  with  by  the 
hysterical  imbecile  who  holds  that  whatever  is,  is 
wrong. 

The  distinguishing  characteristic  of  a  normal  man- 
hood is  the  ability  to  adapt  oneself  to  his  environment. 
Individually  the  crank  is  known  by  his  inability  to 
live  in  harmony  with  any  of  his  environmental  con- 
ditions, religious,  political,  or  sociological.  Collec- 
tively they  are  recognized  by  their  propensity  to 
organize  themselves  into  societies  for  the  promul- 
gation of  "  new  ideas,"  especially  such  as  are  either 
incapable  of  verification  or  are  palpably  out  of  har- 
mony with  established  truth.  As  one  values  a  health-  L 
ful  mental  environment,  he  should  avoid  them  as  he  \ 
I  would  a  pestilence. 

Truth  perpetuates  itself  by  virtue  of  its  own  in- 
herent vitality,  and  it  organizes  its  own  following 
from  among  those  who  recognize  it  by  its  harmony 
with  all  other  truth.  It  needs  no  human  organiza- 
tion to  promulgate  it,  for  it  is  sel  f -generating ;  nor 
to  perpetuate  it,  for  it  is  eternal.  Every  truth  is 
itself  a  part  of  an  organized  system,  which  is  co- 
extensive with  the  universe  of  God.  Hence  no  truth 
is  unimportant  or  insignificant,  for  the  grand  sys- 
tem would  be  incomplete  without  it.  Suspend  one 
law  of  physical  nature  but  for  one  moment,  and  the 
physical  universe  would  disintegrate.  Suspend  one 
law  of  mind  and  soul,  and  mental  chaos  would  super- 
vene. And  as  all  the  laws  of  nature  are  interrelated, 
and  constitute  one  stupendous  unitary  system,  it  fol- 


AUTO-SUGGESTION  147 

lows  that  a  suspension  of  one  law,  physical  or  mental, 
would  result  in  universal  chaos. 

Analogous  to  the  suspension  of  a  natural  law  is  its 
violation,  for  in  either  case  the  harmony  of  the  uni- 
verse is  disturbed.  The  results  differ  only  in  that, 
in  the  case  of  the  violation  of  law,  the  inharmony 
affects  only  the  guilty  party  and  his  dependents.  But 
as  to  them,  the  appropriate  penalties  are  inflicted  with 
inexorable  exactitude  in  proportion  to  the  extent  to 
which  the  law  is  violated.  Evil,  therefore,  is  but 
another  name  for  inharmony,  and  its  origin  is  found 
in  the  violation  of  the  laws  of  God,  physical,  mental, 
or  moral.  The  laws  themselves  are  not  evil,  nor 
are  they  productive  of  evil.  From  the  greatest  to 
the  least,  they  are  designed  for  the  ultimate  good  of 
man,  provided  only  that  he  place  himself  in  har- 
mony with  them.  They  are  the  embodiment  of  Eter- 
nal Truth,  and  no  false  conclusion  or  suggestion  can 
be  derived  from  a  knowledge  of  their  provisions. 

On  the  other  hand,  every  falsehood,  every  error, 
every  wrong  idea  is  a  prolific  source  of  possible  evil, 
for  no  correct  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  a  false 
premise.  Hence  the  suggestions  arising  from  error 
and  falsehood  are  necessarily  wrong,  misleading,  and 
productive  of  untold  evil  consequences;  and  hence 
the  necessity  for  constantly  guarding  the  portals  of 
the  subjective  mind  against  them.  The  safest  sen- 
tinel to  put  on  guard  for  that  purpose  is  Reason,  and 
the  price  of  safety  is  eternal  vigilance. 

This  brings  us  to  a  consideration  of  the  second 
method  of  averting  the  consequences  of  the  current 
suggestions  adverse  to  health.  This  method,  as  be- 
fore stated,  consists  in  the  interposition  of  a  counter- 


148  THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

vailing  suggestion,  whenever  an  adverse  suggestion 
is  thrust  upon  you.  The  method  is  simple  to  the  last 
degree,  and  it  is  as  effective  as  it  is  easy  of  applica- 
tion. It  consists  in  denying  the  truth  of  the  adverse 
suggestion.  By  this  I  do  not  mean  that  an  open  con- 
troversy should  be  indulged  in.  On  the  contrary, 
that  should  be  avoided ;  for  it  would  merely  cause  a 
reiteration  of  the  suggestion  with  increased  emphasis 
and  a  fresh  eruption  of  persuasive  eloquence.  The 
denial  should  be  made  mentally,  and  it  should  be 
persisted  in  as  long  as  the  suggestion  continues  to 
be  inflicted.  After  that  the  subject  should  be  ignored, 
—  banished  from  the  mind. 

A  good  way  to  silence  a  chronic  dyspeptic  is  to 
boast  of  your  own  good  digestive  powers.  It  may 
be  impolite;  and  certainly  nothing  so  deeply  offends 
a  chronic  dyspeptic  as  to  be  told  that  somebody  else 
is  immune  from  that  malady.  But  self-preservation 
is  the  first  law  of  nature.  You  owe  it  to  yourself  to 
shield  your  own  mental  and  physical  organism  from 
the  virus  that  is  poisoning  his ;  and  the  assertion  that 
your  digestive  powers  are  perfect  is  the  surest  way 
to  make  them  perfect,  or  to  keep  them  so.  It  is  a 
countervailing  auto-suggestion  which  you  owe  to 
yourself,  even  at  the  risk  of  enraging  your  friend, 
the  chronic  dyspeptic. 

Chronic  invalids  of  all  kinds  are  prone  to  discourse 
exhaustively  on  the  subject  of  their  miseries  when- 
ever they  can  victimize  a  sympathetic  listener.  Their 
egotism  is  unbounded;  and  it  never  occurs  to  them 
that  the  full  history  of  their  aches,  their  pains,  their 
symptoms,  and  their  movements  may  not  possess 
the  same  absorbing  interest  to  others  that  it  does  to 


A  UTO-SUCGESTION  1  49 

themselves.  Nor  does  it  occur  to  them  that  they  are 
inflicting  a  positive  wrong  upon  their  listeners  by 
filling  their  minds  with  suggestions  adverse  to  their 
own  health.  Sympathy  is  the  boon  they  crave,  and 
it  is  all  too  often  injudiciously  extended  to  them; 
for  the  sympathetic  remarks  of  friends  often  amount 
to  suggestions  that  confirm  and  increase  the  morbid 
mental  condition  of  the  sufferer. 

For  instance,  the  most  dangerous  blessing  that  a 
chronic  dyspeptic  can  have  about  him  is  a  sympa- 

thetic Wife  who  is  igmnrant  nf  \\\f>  law  nf 


Her  constant  watchfulness  over  his  diet  is  something 
appalling.  Knowing  his  infirmity,  and  dreading  his 
erratic  temper  when  he  is  stricken  with  a  fit  of  indi- 
gestion, she  conscientiously  arms  herself  with  all 
the  current  misinformation  on  the  subject  of  diete- 
tics, and  proceeds  to  make  his  life  miserable  at  meal- 
times by  doling  it  out  as  occasion  seems  to  require. 
With  true  wifely  devotion  she  watches  every  mouth- 
ful that  he  attempts  to  regale  himself  withal,  and 
pounces  upon  him  at  intervals  with,  "  Henry,  you 
must  not  eat  "  this,  or  that,  or  the  other  ;  "  it  will 
surely  make  you  sick."  And  if  Henry  heeds  her 
admonitions,  he  makes  his  meal  of  bran  bread,  or, 
perhaps,  of  some  other  equally  innutritious  "  mush  " 
that  is  advertised  in  the  newspapers  as  being  "  pre- 
digested."  The  result  is  that  he  rises  from  the  table 
with  his  digestive  apparatus  still  further  weakened 
by  disuse,  atrophied  for  the  want  of  exercise,  con- 
firmed in  its  vicious  habits  by  a  fresh  instalment  of 
pernicious  suggestions,  —  suggestions  made  by  the 
best  of  wives  with  the  best  intentions.  His  whole 
body  becomes  weakened  for  the  lack  of  proper  nutri- 


ISO         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

ment,  and  he  becomes  an  easy  prey  to  every  disease 
that  prevails  in  his  vicinage.  He  becomes  morbid 
in  mind  as  well  as  in  body.  He  dwells  upon  his  in- 
firmities in  his  meditations,  and,  in  pursuit  of  sym- 
pathy, thrusts  them  upon  the  attention  of  all  with 
whom  he  comes  in  contact.  If  he  gets  the  coveted 
sympathy,  he  is  confirmed  in  his  morbidity.  If  not, 
he  "  gets  mad,"  and  complains  that  the  whole  world 
is  in  league  against  him;  and  if  any  one,  in  self- 
defence,  presumes  to  mention  his  own  good  health, 
he  is  immediately  catalogued  as  an  enemy  who  is 
seeking  to  destroy  the  only  comfort  and  consolation 
derivable  from  dyspepsia. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  hypothetical  "  Henry " 
sometimes  rebels  against  his  wife's  sympathetic  es- 
pionage. Weak  for  the  lack  of  nourishment,  he 
comes  to  the  table  with  an  enormous  appetite,  and 
proceeds  to  eat  what  he  likes  best,  regardless  of  the 
apprehensions  of  his  faithful  wife  and  monitor.  But 
he  does  not  escape  her  admonitions;  for  she  is 
sure  to  remind  him  that  his  stomach  is  diseased 
and  his  appetite  morbid, — craving  "only  that  which 
is  indigestible,"  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  dis- 
mal chapter.  But  Henry  is  defiant,  and,  prompted 
by  both  appetite  and  perversity,  overloads  his 
stomach.  Then  follows  a  season  of  reflection 
upon  the  suggestions  that  have  been  made,  self- 
condemnation  for  having  eaten  anything  at  all,  and 
the  usual  introspection  —  watching  for  untoward 
symptoms  —  which  he  is  sure  to  experience.  If  he 
is  in  business,  he  goes  in  search  of  his  employees, 
and  — 


A  UTO-SUGGESTION  1 5 1 

"  Discharges  the  best  of  'em, 
Swears  at  the  rest  of  'em, 
Kicks  the  office  cat, 
Jumps  upon  his  hat,"  * 

and  otherwise  disports  himself  with  an  eye  single 
to  conquering  comfort  and  consolation  by  making 
everybody  else  as  miserable  as  he  is  himself.  All 
of  this  might  have  been  averted  by  a  little  judi- 
cious withholding  of  wifely  sympathy,  especially  at 
mealtimes. 

The  only  safe  rule,  either  for  dyspeptics  or  well 
persons,  is  to  taboo  rigidly  the  subject  of  dietetics 
as  a  topic  of  conversation  at  mealtimes.  Incalculable 
injury  is  often  inflicted  upon  the  children  of  healthy 
households  by  the  incessant  watchfulness  of  parents 
over  their  diet,  especially  in  regard  to  desserts  or 
other  luxuries  of  which  they  are  particularly  fond. 
A  due  amount  of  caution  is,  of  course,  necessary; 
but  it  should  be  exercised  when  ordering  the  bill  of 
fare,  and  it  generally  is.  No  sane  person  puts  a 
dish  before  his  children  that  is  hurtful.  But  to  hear 
the  average  parent  discourse  to  his  children  upon  the 
hurtfulness  of  the  food  set  before  them,  one  would 
think  that  the  cook  was  suspected  of  having  resolved 
to  poison  the  whole  family. 

The  truth  is  that  nine-tenths  of  the  talk  to  chil- 
dren about  the  hurtfulness  of  food  is  prompted  by 
motives  of  economy.  It  is  a  constipation  of  the 
pocket-book,  rather  than  the  hurtfulness  of  food, 
that  causes  many  a  child  to  be  tortured  by  the  pres- 
ence of  luxuries  that  he  is  not  permitted  to  enjoy 
in  common  with  the  older  members  of  the  family. 

i  Holmes,  "  The  Dyspeptic." 


152         THE  LAW   OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

But  whatever  the  motive  may  be,  the  point  is  that 
the  luxuries  of  the  table  should  never  be  denied  to 
children  on  the  ground  that  they  are  hurtful. 

In  the  first  place,  if  they  are  actually  hurtful,  they 
should  not  be  on  the  table.  If  not,  a  double  wrong 
is  perpetrated  against  the  child.  To  say  nothing  of 
the  heartless  selfishness  involved  in  depriving  a  child, 
from  motives  of  sordid  stinginess,  of  his  share  of 
the  good  things  on  the  table,  the  example  set  before 
him  of  falsehood  and  deceit  on  the  part  of  the  par- 
ents is  a  moral  wrong  that  may  affect  the  child's 
whole  future.  If  he  does  not  follow  their  example, 
he  will  at  least  despise  his  parents  for  setting  it.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  the  outrage  upon  his  physical  organ- 
ism is  sure  to  be  followed  by  its  legitimate  conse- 
quences, namely,  a  disordered  stomach  and  weakened 
powers  of  digestion. 

The  seeds  of  the  disease  which  has  distinguished  us 
as  "  a  nation  of  dyspeptics  "  are  sown  in  the  minds 
of  our  children  at  the  table  by  the  incessant  nagging 
of  ignorant  or  sordid  parents. 

Nor  is  the  wrong  thus  inflicted  upon  the  little  ones 
measured  alone  by  the  false  suggestions  and  their 
inevitable  consequences.  The  appetite  of  the  average 
child  is  not  only  a  good  measure  of  its  digestive 
powers,  but  its  "  longings  "  are  the  best  evidences 
of  what  it  needs.  For  instance,  many  children  are 
possessed  of  what  the  average  mother  regards  as  a 
"  morbid  appetite  "  for  sweets ;  and  sweets  are,  con- 
sequently, inhibited,  with  the  inevitable  suggestions 
regarding  the  hurtfulness  of  good  things  in  general 
and  sweet  things  in  particular.  Of  course,  the  more 
strictly  sweets  are  inhibited,  the  more  intense  are  the 


A  UTO-SUGGESTION  1 5  3 

child's  longings  for  them.  This  the  mother  usually 
regards  as  natural  perversity,  inherited  from  our 
grandmother  Eve,  and  she  redoubles  her  vigilance 
accordingly. 

Now,  the  truth  is  that  children  have  an  appetite 
for  sugar  because  they  need  sugar,  —  because  of  a 
deficiency  in  the  physical  organism  of  the  element 
which  saccharine  matter  in  some  form  alone  sup- 
plies. "  Nature  "  cries  out  for  it  with  an  insistence 
proportioned  to  its  necessities,  just  as  it  cries  out  for 
water  when  the  supply  of  that  element  is  deficient. 

The  obvious  lesson  is  that  when  a  child  develops 
a  strong  appetite  for  sweets,  instead  of  filling  its 
mind  with  false  suggestions  as  to  the  hurtfulness  of 
what  it  craves,  it  should  be  given  free  and  unlimited 
access  to  the  sugar-bowl.  Nothing  is  more  nutri- 
tious than  sugar,  and  few  things  are  more  easily 
digested  and  assimilated.  As  in  case  of  all  other 
nutritious  foods,  a  strong  appetite  for  it  is  good 
evidence,  not  only  that  the  system  needs  it,  but  that 
the  stomach  can  digest  it,  —  provided  always  that 
the  functions  of  that  organ  are  not  interfered  with 
by  adverse  suggestions. 

Suggestions  apart,  few  children  who  have  a  strong 
appetite  for  sugar  have  ever  been  injured  by  giving 
it  to  them  in  practically  unlimited  quantities.  On 
the  other  hand,  many  such  have  been  grievously  in- 
jured by  being  deprived  of  it;  and  I  have  known 
weakly,  puny  children  to  be  rendered  strong  and 
robust  by  satisfying  what  appeared  to  the  mother 
to  be  a  morbid  craving  for  sugar. 

The  remarks  made  about  sugar  apply  with  some- 
what diminishing  force,  perhaps,  to  foods  of  whichi 


154        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

sugar  is  a  prominent  ingredient;  for  example,  the 
ordinary  sweet-cakes  and  other  desserts  in  common 
use  on  American  tables.  Few,  if  any,  are  so  com- 
pounded as  to  justify  withholding  them  from  children 
who  are  fond  of  them. 

It  is  not  my  province,  however,  in  a  work  like 
this,  to  lay  down  any  hard  and  fast  rules  of  diet. 
This  is  not  a  cook-book,  nor  is  it  a  treatise  on 
dietetics.  My  duty  will  have  been  performed  to 
the  best  of  my  ability  when  I  point  out  the  salient 
features  of  typical  cases  where  false  and  pernicious 
suggestions  do  their  deadly  work.  In  other  words, 
I  can  only  point  out  general  principles  and  invite  at- 
tention to  a  few  illustrative  examples.  In  carrying 
the  principles  into  practice  everything  must  neces- 
sarily be  left  to  private  judgment;  and  I  can  only 
enjoin  upon  my  readers  the  necessity  of  exercising 
just  a  little  common  sense,  remembering  that  there 
are  but  a  few  simple  rules  to  observe  in  the  employ- 
ment of  suggestion  as  a  prophylactic,  or  preventive  of 
disease.  The  most  important  are  the  following :  — 

1.  Avoid  all  suggestions,  from  extraneous  sources, 
which  are  adverse  to  health. 

2.  If  such  suggestions  are  forced  upon  you,  meet 
them  by  counter  suggestions  affirmative  of  your  own 
immunity  from  the  suggested  diseases. 

3.  Inhibit  all  conversation  at  the  table  adverse  to 
the  quality  of  the  food  set  before  you,  especially  as 
to  its  supposed  indigestibility. 

4.  Never  refuse  to  give  a  child  the  food  it  desires 
on  the  ground  of  its  hurtfulness.     If  you  are  too 
stingy  to  give  him  what  he  wants,  say  so.    But,  as  you 
yalue  the  health  of  your  child,  never  suggest  that 


AUTO-SUGGESTION  155 

the  food  he  eats  is  liable  to  "make  him  sick," — first, 
because  you  know  you  are  lying,  and,  secondly,  be- 
cause he  will  find  it  out  some  day,  and  despise  you 
for  it. 

5.  Talk  hopefully  to  the  chronic  invalid,  for  hi 
sake;   and  for  your  own  sake,  when  you  leave  him 
thank  God  that  you  are  immune  from  his  diseases., 

6.  Think  health  and  talk  health  on  all   suitably 
occasions,  remembering  that  under  the  law  of  sug- 
gestion health  may  be  made  contagious  as  well  as 
disease. 

7.  Finally,  meet  the  first  symptom  of  disease  wit  i 
a  vigorous  and  persistent  auto-suggestion  of  you  r 
immunity  from  disease  or  of  your  ability  to  thro1^ 
it  off.     When  you  go  to  bed  at  night,  direct  yoi  r 
subjective  mind  to  employ  itself  during  your  sle<p 
in  restoring  normal  conditions,  strongly  affirming  i  ts 
ability  to  do  so ;   and  when  you  rise  in  the  mornin  j, 
assume  the  attitude,  in  mind  and  body,1  of  restond 

1  The  significance  of  this  remark  will  be  better  understood  when^t 
is  known  that  in  hypnotic  experiments  it  has  been  found  that  the  atti- 
tude of  the  body  reacts  upon  the  subjective  mind,  producing  corre- 
sponding suggestions  of  the   most  powerful  character.      Thus,  trie 
placing  of  a  hypnotized  subject  in  a  devotional  attitude  induces  corr$- 
sponding  feelings,  which  in  turn  are  carried  over  into  corresponding 
actions  and  expressions;  whilst  placing  the  subject  in  a  pugilistic  at 
titude  and  doubling  his  fists,  enrages  him  and  induces  corresponding 
actions,  often  of  the  most  pronounced  character.     By  reasoning  fror 
these  well-known  facts,  the  conclusion  was  deduced  that  a  powerful; 
therapeutic  auto-suggestion  could  be  made  by  assuming  the  bodily, 
attitude  of  strength  and  vigor,  for  example,  standing  erect,  throwing ; 
the  shoulders  back,  expanding  the  chest,  etc.,  accompanying  the  action 
with  a  corresponding  mental  attitude  and  words  affirmative  of  renewed 
vigor  and  immunity  from  disease. 

I  am  indebted  for  this  idea  to  one  of  the  ablest  of  Ohio  jurists,  who 
has  for  many  years  given  much  intelligent  attention  to  the  study  of 


156        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

health  and  vigor.  Should  these  prophylactic  efforts 
fail  to  produce  the  desired  effect,  and  should  dis- 
ease come  upon  you  in  spite  of  them,  it  is  not  the 
fault  of  the  system.  It  is  because  you  are  not  well 
grounded  in  the  conditions  precedent  to  success. 
Mental  remedies  are  dependent  for  success  upon 
mental  conditions,  just  as  physical  remedies  are  de- 
pendent for  their  efficacy  upon  physical  conditions. 

Obviously,  the  necessary  mental  conditions  cannot 
always  be  commanded  in  the  adult  who  has  been 
reared  in  an  atmosphere  of  doubt  and  incredulity 
regarding  the  efficacy  of  other  than  material  reme- 
dies. Faith  in  the  latter  has  been  crystallized  into  a 
race  prejudice  which  has  been  enhanced  by  the  gross 
superstitions  and  obvious  charlatanry  of  many  who 
practise  mental  therapeutics.  It  will  take  years,  per- 
haps centuries,  to  overcome  the  evil  thus  wrought. 

Again,  there  are  many  who  fail  through  persistent 
perversity,  or,  to  put  the  most  charitable  construction 
upon  their  conduct,  through  sheer  weakness  of  intel- 
lect, —  inability  to  comprehend  the  simplest  proposi- 
tion relating  to  the  conditions  of  success  in  suggestive 
therapeutics.  Nothing  can  induce  them  to  assume  a 
hopeful,  or  even  a  passive,  attitude  of  mind.  They 
take  special  delight  in  being  able  to  say  that  they 

suggestive  therapeutics,  especially  to  auto-suggestion  as  a  prophylactic 
agent.  He  informs  me  that  he  has  derived  untold  benefit  from  the 
practice ;  and  my  own  subsequent  observations  and  experience  confirm 
every  word  that  he  says.  Extreme  weariness,  bodily  or  mental,  miy 
be  relieved  in  that  way,  thus  enabling  one,  in  cases  of  emergency, 
temporarily  to  renew  his  activity.  Deep  inhalations  of  atmospheric 
air  are  valuable  accompaniments  to  the  practice,  as  they  revitalize  the 
blood,  promote  its  circulation,  and  stimulate  to  normal  activity  every 
cell  of  which  the  body  is  composed. 


A  UTO-SUGGESTION  157 

have  not  been  benefited  in  the  least  by  the  treatment, 
even  when  it  is  a  palpable  falsehood.  In  a  word,  no 
argument  can  induce  them  to  refrain  from  continu- 
ally making  auto-suggestions  adverse  not  only  to 
their  own  health,  but  to  the  possibility  of  its  restora- 
tion by  other  than  material  remedies. 

Obviously,  suggestive  treatment,  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  the  word,  is  not  adapted  to  such  cases.  It 
must  be  a  "  larvated  suggestion"  (Pitzer),  if  any, 
that  can  overcome  either  the  perversity  or  the  im- 
becility thus  manifested. 

To  such,  and  to  all  who  from  any  cause  fail  to 
experience  the  benefits  of  suggestive  treatment,  my 
advice  is  to  go  at  once  to  the  physician  in  whom  they 
have  the  most  confidence,  without  reference  to  the 
school  to  which  he  belongs.  It  is  far  more  important 
that  you  should  have  confidence  in  your  physician 
than  it  is  that  he  should  know  anything  about  your 
case;  for  in  the  latter  event  he  will  doubtless  give 
you  a  placebo,  which  is  always  safe,  and  usually  effi- 
cacious when  administered  with  its  due  proportion 
of  suggestion.  This  is  what  Dr.  Pitzer  designates 
as  a  "  larvated  suggestion."  It  is  in  common  use 
among  the  medical  profession,  and  its  value  as  a 
therapeutic  agent  cannot  be  overestimated. 


fDarr  Ctoo 


THE   CORRELATION   OF  THE   FACTS  OF 

PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PHYSIOLOGY  IN  CONNECTION 

WITH   MENTAL  HEALING 


€tuo 

THE   CORRELATION   OF  THE   FACTS  OF 

PSYCHOLOGY  AND  PHYSIOLOGY  IN  CONNECTION 

WITH   MENTAL   HEALING 


CHAPTER    I 

INTRODUCTORY 

The  Facts  of  Psychology  and  Physiology  to  be  Correlated.  —  All 
Organic  Tissue  composed  of  Intelligent  Microscopic  Cells.  —  Dis- 
ease of  the  Body  is  Disease  of  the  Cells  of  the  Body.  —  The  Cells 
amenable  to  Control  by  the  Subjective  Mind.  —  The  Fluidic  The- 
ory of  Mesmerism.  —  The  Nancy  School.  —  The  Force  or  Energy 
which  controls  the  Bodily  Functions  a  Mental  Energy.  —  It  oper- 
ates upon  the  Subordinate  Intelligent  Cells  through  the  Nerves. — 
Histionic  Suggestion.  —  The  Nerves  the  Mechanism  for  the  Con- 
veyance of  Therapeutic  Impulse  from  Healer  to  Patient. —  Histionic 
Suggestion  effective  without  Hypnotism  and  in  Defiance  of  Adverse 
Auto-S  uggestions. 

CONSIDERED  from  a  purely  psychological 
standpoint,  the  working  hypothesis  for  men- 
tal healing  which  is  set  forth  in  Part  I.  of  this  book 
seems  to  be  complete  and  valid;  that  is  to  say,  it 
fully  and  completely  explains  all  the  facts  of  purely 
mental  healing  that  have  yet  been  brought  to  light 
through  the  indefinite  number  of  "  systems "  that 
are  now  in  vogue  or  of  which  history  informs  us. 

Much  remains  to  be  done,  however,  before  mental 
medicine  can  be  said  to  rest  upon  a  purely  scientific 


1 62         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

basis.  Other  sciences  remain  to  be  explored,  namely, 
physiology  and  histology,  or  physiological  psychol- 
ogy, before  an  adequate  knowledge  of  the  subject 
can  be  approximated ;  for,  whilst  the  force  or  energy 
employed  in  mental  healing  may  be  purely  psycho- 
logical, that  energy  is  expended  upon  a  physiological 
structure.  This  presupposes  a  nexus  between  the 
two;  and  although  this  nexus  may  be  intangible  and 
hence  incapable  of  being  dragged  to  light  by  means 
of  the  surgeon's  forceps,  we  may  hope  to  find  the 
machinery  in  the  anatomical  or  histological  struc- 
ture of  man,  through  which  the  psychological  energy 
operates  in  the  production  of  therapeutic  results.  If, 
then,  we  find  the  mechanism  especially  adapted  to 
its  supposed  uses,  a  great  point  will  be  gained,  for 
we  shall  have  a  right  to  infer  that  it  is  so  employed. 
In  other  words,  the  correlation  of  the  facts  of  psy- 
chology with  those  of  physiology  with  reference  to 
the  problem  of  mental  healing  will  afford  conclusive 
evidence  as  to  the  correctness  of  our  fundamental 
psychological  hypothesis.  Moreover,  as  the  discov- 
ery of  a  new  truth  invariably  leads  to  a  solution  of 
old  problems,  it  is  hoped  that  this  will  constitute  no 
exception  to  the  rule. 

I  hope,  therefore,  to  be  able,  first,  to  point  out  the 
physiological  machinery  through  which  the  subjec- 
tive mind  operates  to  produce  therapeutic  results. 
In  this  there  will  be  nothing  new  to  science  except 
my  conclusions ;  for  I  shall  accept,  at  their  full  value, 
all  the  facts  which  modern  science  has  discovered  in 
reference  to  the  histological  structure  of  sentient  be- 
ings, —  facts  which  no  scientist  pretends  to  doubt  or 
deny,  —  facts  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  all  accepted 


INTRODUCTORY  163 

modern  physiological  science.  To  this  end  I  shall 
draw  largely  upon  the  accepted  facts  of  histology, 
which  is  the  branch  of  biology  that  treats  of  the 
structure  of  the  tissues  of  organized  bodies,  —  in 
short,  microscopic  anatomy.  The  salient  histologi- 
cal  fact  upon  which  I  shall  dwell  is  that  all  organic 
tissue  is  made  up  of  microscopic  cells,  each  one  of 
which  is  a  living,  intelligent  entity.  This  includes 
the  bones,  hair,  and  nails,  as  well  as  the  muscles 
and  nerves,  and  all  other  portions  of  the  organic 
structure. 

I  shall  also  accept  the  latest  and  most  universally 
accepted,  because  the  most  obviously  true,  theory  of 
disease ;  namely,  that  a  disease  of  the  body  is  a  dis- 
ease of  the  cells  of  the  body.  This  is,  indeed,  a 
corollary  of  the  demonstrable  fact  that  all  organic 
tissue  is  composed  of  cells.  It  follows  that  the  cure 
of  disease  consists  in  restoring  the  diseased  cells 
to  normal  health  and  activity  (metabolism).  How 
to  effect  that  object,  however,  is  where  doctors 
disagree. 

Thus  far  my  statements  will  not  be  disputed  by  any 
living  scientist,  or  by  modern  doctors  of  medicine  who 
keep  pace  with  the  discoveries  of  medical  research. 
But  when  I  attempt  to  show  that  the  cellular  struc- 
ture of  the  physical  man  is  the  basic  fact  of  mental 
healing,  I  shall  probably  run  counter  to  some  very 
old  and  very  pronounced  prejudices.  Nevertheless, 
I  shall  attempt  to  show  that  these  intelligent  enti- 
ties, which  we  call  cells,  and  of  which  the  whole  body 
is  composed,  are  obviously  amenable  to  control  by 
mental  impulses  from  the  central  intelligence  which 
controls  the  functions  of  the  body,  and  that  they,  in 


1 64         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

fact,  constitute  the  machinery  by  and  through  which 
the  mind  controls  the  body  in  health  and  disease. 
Nor  shall  I  be  entirely  unsupported  in  this  view,  for 
I  shall  be  able  to  quote  the  highest  materialistic 
authority  admitting  the  existence  of  a  central  intelli- 
gence in  man  which  controls  the  functions  of  each 
individual  cell  of  which  the  whole  body  is  composed. 
In  fact,  no  intelligent  person  denies  the  existence 
and  potency  of  this  central  power  and  intelligence 
which  keeps  the  machinery  of  organic  life  in  opera- 
tion. It  has  been  variously  designated  as  "  the  vital 
principle,"  "  the  principle  of  life,"  "  the  soul,"  "  the 
communal  soul,"  "  the  unconscious  mind,"  "  the  sub- 
conscious mind,"  "  the  subliminal  consciousness," 
"  the  subjective  mind,"  etc.,  the  designation  being 
governed  by  the  point  of  view  from  which  the  sub- 
ject is  treated.  But  no  one,  be  he  materialist  or 
spiritualist,1  denies  its  existence,  or  that  it  is  en- 
dowed with  an  intelligence  commensurate  with  the 
functions  it  performs  in  organic  life.  Philosophers 
may  differ  in  their  views  as  to  its  origin,  or  its 
ultimate  destiny,  or  its  psychological  significance 
outside  of  the  functions  it  performs  in  keep- 
ing the  machinery  of  life  in  motion;  but  no  one 
denies  its  existence,  its  intelligence,  or  its  power 
over  the  functions,  sensations,  and  conditions  of 
the  body. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  I  am  not  citing  any 
facts  that  are  new  to  science.  I  am  merely  giving  a 
slightly  new  interpretation  to  the  old  and  universally 
admitted  facts  of  science  when  I  point  out  the  obvi- 

1  I  use  the  word  in  its  broad  signification,  as  the  antithesis  of 
"  materialist." 


:    INTRODUCTORY  165 

ous  truth  that  this  central  intelligence,  operating 
upon  the  myriad  intelligences  of  which  the  physical 
organism  is  composed,  constitutes  the  mechanism,  so 
to  speak,  by  which  the  mind  controls  the  body  in 
health  and  disease. 

I  have  ventured  to  designate  this  central  intelli- 
gence as  the  "  subjective  mind; "  and  I  have  shown, 
in  Part  I.  of  this  book,  that  it  is  constantly  amenable 
to  control  by  the  power  of  suggestion,  —  thus  point- 
ing out  a  means  by  which  the  machinery  of  mental 
healing  may  be  set  in  motion,  either  by  the  patient 
himself  or  by  others.  In  doing  so,  however,  I  have 
merely  reiterated,  with  the  greater  emphasis  and 
elaboration  that  are  justified  by  added  years  of  ex- 
perience and  observation,  what  I  had  previously  laid 
down  in  "  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena."  In 
that  work  I  was  the  first  to  formulate  a  working 
hypothesis,  applicable  alike  to  all  methods,  for  the 
systematic  study  and  practice  of  mental  healing;  and 
I  am  proud  to  say  that  since  then  many  successful 
schools  of  suggestive  therapeutics  have  been  founded 
whose  faculties  acknowledge  that  formula  to  be  the 
expression  of  the  fundamental  law  of  mental  medi- 
cine. And  I  hasten  to  remark  that,  in  what  I  shall 
have  to  say  hereinafter,  nothing  of  that  formula  will 
be  taken  back  or  modified;  but  much  will  be  said  in 
explanation  of  phenomena  that  have  hitherto,  in  the 
opinion  of  many,  refused  to  range  themselves  under 
the  law  of  suggestion. 

I  allude  especially  to  the  phenomena  of  so-called 
"  animal  magnetism,"  or,  as  it  has  been  designated 
in  honor  of  its  supposed  discoverer,  "  mesmerism." 
This  includes  all  those  seemingly  miraculous  cures 


1 66        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

which,  in  both  ancient  and  modern  times,  have  been 
effected  by  personal  contact  or  digital  manipulation, 

—  otherwise,  "  the  laying  on  of  hands." 

It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  in  all  the  ages  of 
mankind  marvelous  cures  have  been  effected  by  the 
laying  on  of  hands.  But  no  attempt  was  ever  made 
to  account  for  the  phenomena  on  anything  like  scien- 
tific grounds  until  Mesmer  essayed  an  explanation 
on  the  hypothesis  of  fluidic  emanations  from  the 
healer,  impinging  upon  the  patient,  and  carrying 
with  them  a  fresh  stock  of  health  and  vitality.  The 
logical  absurdity  of  explaining  the  unknown  by  some- 
thing still  more  unknown  seems  never  to  have  oc- 
curred to  either  Mesmer  or  his  followers;  and  they 
made  the  all  too  common  mistake  of  taking  it  for 
granted  that  when  once  a  name  was  given  to  a  phe- 
nomenon, all  further  explanations  were  superfluous 
and  impertinent.  And  so  it  happened  that  Mesmer's 
followers  held,  and  still  hold,  with  hysterical  insist- 
ence, that  the  term  "  animal  magnetism  "  affords  a 
complete  scientific  explanation  of  the  phenomena  of 
healing  by  laying  on  of  hands,  passes,  or  other 
forms  of  digital  manipulation.  If  asked  what  "  ani- 
mal magnetism  "  is,  they  reply  that  it  is  a  "  fluidic 
emanation  "  from  the  healer ;  and  if  pressed  for  an 
explanation  as  to  what  the  "  fluid  "  is,  their  reply  is 
that  it  is  "  animal  magnetism."  And  there  you  are, 

—  forever  in  the  "  vicious  circle." 

~~  In  the  meantime  the  scientific  opponents  of  Mesmer 
have  been  equally  loud  and  insistent  and  hysterical 
in  their  opposition  to  the  fluidic  theory,  even  when 
constrained  to  admit  the  phenomena,  —  which  most 
of  them  denied  for  many  years.  But  none  of  them 


INTRODUCTORY  167 

has  ever  yet  offered  a  valid  reason  for  denying  either 
the  phenomena  or  the  fluid.  It  is  a  popular  belief 
among  them  that  Braid  utterly  disproved  the  fluidic 
theory  by  his  peculiar  methods  of  inducing  hypnosis. 
But  Braid  never  claimed  that  he  had  done  more  than 
to  prove  that  some  of  the  phenomena  of  mesmerism 
could  be  produced  without  the  personal  contact  of 
the  operator  with  his  subject.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  acknowledged  his  inability  to  produce  the  higher 
phenomena  of  mesmerism  by  his  processes,  and  con- 
tented himself  with  casting  aspersions  upon  the  genu- 
ineness of  such  phenomena  as  he  could  not  reproduce 
or  understand.  I  refer  particularly  to  the  phenomena 
of  telepathy  or  thought-transference,  which  were  at 
that  time  being  constantly  produced  by  the  methods 
of  mesmerism  or  animal  magnetism,  —  that  is,  by 
personal  contact 

In  later  times  the  opponents  of  the  fluidic  theory 
derived  much  comfort  from  the  discovery  of  the  law 
of  suggestion.  Following  the  lead  of  the  Nancy 
school  of  hypnotism,  they  ascribed  every  effect  to 
the  suggestions  necessarily  embraced  in  making  mes- 
meric passes,  when  they  were  made  for  avowedly 
therapeutic  purposes.  And  in  all  candor  it  must  be 
admitted  that  such  passes,  when  made  with  avowed 
curative  intent,  constitute  a  very  powerful  suggestion, 
and  one  which  might  succeed  independently  of  any 
other  factor  in  the  case.  But  when  it  is  known  that 
young  children  —  too  young  to  understand  the  im- 
port of  any  form  of  suggestion  —  and  even  animals, 
according  to  the  authority  of  the  early  mesmerists, 
have  been  cured  by  mesmeric  or  magnetic  manipu- 
lation, it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  something  in  their 


1 68         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

processes  that  cannot  be  accounted  for  on  the  theory 
of  suggestion,  as  that  term  is  at  present  understood. 
In  point  of  fact  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  fluidic 
theory  was  vastly  strengthened  by  the  fact  mentioned ; 
and  if  there  was  no  other  way  to  account  for  the 
facts,  I  should  be  slow  to  dogmatize  against  the 
fluidic  theory,  absurd  as  it  appears  in  statement  and 
in  the  absence  of  other  than  negative  evidence  to 
support  it. 

It  seems  to  me,  however,  that  we  have  not  far 
to  look  for  a  valid  working  hypothesis  when  we  stop 
to  consider  what  is  known  to  science  of  the  charac- 
ter of  the  mechanism  through  which  the  subjective 
mind  operates  to  control  the  functions  of  the  body. 
Let  us,  then,  make  a  brief  provisional  examination 
of  that  mechanism,  reserving  our  proofs  of  each 
proposition  for  subsequent  chapters. 

We  may  start  with  a  universal  postulate,  which 
requires  no  proofs,  and  which  will  not  be  disputed, 
namely,  — 

1.  The  force  or  energy  which  controls  the  bodily 
functions  from  within  is  a  mental  energy. 

This  proposition,  obviously  true  as  it  is,  seems  to 
have  been  overlooked  by  those  who  deny  the  power  of 
mind  over  the  body  in  health  and  disease.  It  em- 
braces, in  fact,  the  very  gist  and  essence  of  mental 
medicine;  for  the  initial  impulse  which  stimulates 
and  controls  the  functions  of  each  and  every  cell  of 
the  body  is  necessarily  a  mental  impulse  proceeding 
from  a  central  intelligence. 

2.  This  central  intelligence  necessarily  operates, 
through  appropriate  mechanism,  upon  the  subordi- 
nate intelligences. 


INTRODUCTORY  169 

3.  The  subordinate  intelligences  are  the  cells  of 
which  the  whole  body  is  composed,  each  of  which  is 
an  intelligent  entity,  endowed  with  powers  commen- 
surate with  its  functions. 

4.  The  means  of  communicating  intelligence  both 
to  and  from  the  central,  controlling  mental  organism 
are  the  nerves,  which  are  composed  of  highly  differen- 
tiated cells  whose  intelligence,  like  that  of  every  other 
group  of  cells,  is  especially  adapted  to  the  functions 
which  they  perform. 

5.  The  nerves  of  each  organ  of  the  body  have 
peripheral  termini,  —  one  in  the  back  near  the  spinal 
column,  and  the  other  in  front,  (approximately)  near 
the  location  of  the  organ. 

6.  The  nerve  terminals  in  the  cuticle  are  composed 
of  still  more  highly  differentiated   cells  which  are 
especially  adapted  to  the  performance  of  two  func- 
tions, —  namely,  experiencing  the  sensations  of  pain 
or  of  pleasure,  and  (especially  those  in  the  tips  of 
the  fingers)  of  communicating  with,  or  taking  cog- 
nizance of,  things  extraneous  to  the  bodily  organ- 
ism  (sense  of  touch).     These  are  the  most  highly 
differentiated   cells   in   the   whole  periphery   of  the 
body. 

Thus  far  the  crassest  materialism  will  not  venture 
a  denial  of  my  propositions;  for  they  embrace  the 
facts  which  science  has  discovered  and  promulgated 
in  standard  works,  without  reference  to  their  bearing 
upon  the  question  which  we  are  now  discussing.  Nor 
will  any  scientist  deny  that  the  central  intelligence 
which  controls  the  bodily  functions,  by  whatever 
name  it  may  be  designated,  is  amply  provided  with 
facilities  for  exercising  its  powers;  that  is  to  say, 


THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

it  is  in  possession  of  the  mechanism  through  which 
it  can  convey  to  every  cell  in  the  body  the  necessary 
mental  stimulus  to  regulate  its  functions.  Nor  will 
any  educated  physician  doubt  or  deny  the  proposition 
that  this  central  intelligence  is  susceptible  of  control 
by  the  power  of  suggestion. 

But  that  question  is  apart  from  my  present  purpose, 
having  been  already  discussed  at  some  length.  What 
I  now  wish  to  inquire  is,  What  light  does  the  exami- 
nation of  the  bodily  mechanism  throw  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  so-called  magnetic  or  mesmeric  cures,  or,  what 
may  be  generically  known  as  curing  by  "  the  laying 
on  of  hands,"  —  the  oldest,  the  most  generally  prac- 
tised, and  withal  the  most  effective  of  all  the  an- 
cient systems  of  mental  medicine  ?  Is  it  a  "  fluid 
emanation "  from  the  healer  —  fluid  health,  fluid 
vitality — segregated  from  a  reservoir  of  fluid  health 
existing  in  the  healer  and  impinging  upon  and 
flowing  into  the  patient?  Or  is  it  a  mental  thera- 
peutic impulse  conveyed  from  the  subjective  mind 
of  the  healer  to  the  affected  cells  of  the  patient,  by 
means  of  cellular  rapport  established  by  personal 
contact,  through  the  mechanism  which  we  have  been 
describing? 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  declaring  my  firm  con- 
viction that  the  latter  is  the  true  explanation  of  all 
the  marvellous  phenomena  which,  in  all  the  ages, 
have  followed  the  laying  on  of  hands  for  thera- 
peutic purposes.  Considered  merely  as  a  working 
hypothesis,  it  embraces  all  the  essentials  of  validity, 
for  it  accounts  for  all  the  facts,  —  which  is  more 
than  can  be  said  of  any  fluidic  or  magnetic  theory, 
from  that  of  Mesmer  down  to  the  vague  speculations 


INTRODUCTORY  17 1 

of  the  humblest  of  his  followers.  Moreover,  it  does 
not  seek  to  explain  the  unknown  by  reference  to 
a  hypothetical  something  still  more  unknown.  On 
the  contrary,  it  correlates  the  known  facts  of 
physiological  science  which  are  pertinent  to  the 
question,  with  the  known  psychological  facts  bear- 
ing upon  the  case,  as  I  shall  attempt  to  show  more 
clearly  when  I  come  to  discuss  the  subject  in  greater 
detail. 

In  the  meantime  I  hasten  to  say  that  the  acceptance 
of  this  hypothesis  does  not  necessitate  a  revision  of 
the  fundamental  law  of  mental  medicine  as  stated  in 
the  first  part  of  this  book.  It  merely  reveals  the 
existence  and  potency  of  a  hitherto  unknown  or  mis- 
understood form  of  suggestion.  I  have  ventured  to 
designate  it  as  Histionic 1  Suggestion,  for  the  obvious 
reason  that  it  is  conveyed  through  the  cellular  tissues 
of  both  healer  and  patient.  It  is,  of  course,  a  mental 
impulse,  rapport  being  established  by  digital  contact, 
— otherwise  "the  laying  on  of  hands," — the  periph- 
eral cells  of  the  two  thus  impinging  and  forming  a 
continuous  chain  through  which  a  mental  therapeutic 
impulse  can  be  conveyed.  The  intelligent  reader  will 
at  once  correlate  this  with  the  well-known  facts  of 
thought-transference  by  means  of  personal  contact, 
which  is  sometimes  called  "  muscle-reading,"  to  dis- 

1  "  Histionic  "  is  a  word  not  found  in  any  English  dictionary  with 
which  I  am  acquainted.  It  is  employed  by  Professor  Haeckel  in  his 
"  Riddle  of  the  Universe  "  in  connection  with  "  histology ; "  and  partly 
to  avoid  coining  a  word,  and  partly  for  the  sake  of  euphony,  I  have 
adopted  it.  Derived  from  the  same  Greek  root  as  "  histology,"  the 
science  of  organic  tissues,  it  appropriately  designates  a  form  of  sugges- 
tion that  is  conveyed  by  a  mental  impulse  through  the  cell  intelligences 
of  which  the  body  is  composed. 


172        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

tinguish  it  from  "  telepathy,"  which  is  mind-reading 
at  a  distance. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  same  physiological 
mechanism  that  is  employed  by  the  subjective  mind 
to  convey  a  mental  therapeutic  impulse  to  a  diseased 
organ  from  within  may  be  employed  by  another  sub- 
jective mind  from  without  for  the  same  purpose.  The 
mechanism  is  there,  —  the  telegraphic  line  is  open, 
its  terminals  are  available  because  they  extend  to  the 
periphery,  and  pain  proclaims,  in  unmistakable  lan- 
guage, the  point  where  the  outside  connection  is  to  be 
made.  It  is  as  simple  and  obvious  as  the  connect- 
ing of  two  telegraphic  instruments  by  joining  their 
wires.  The  instruments,  being  identical  in  construc- 
tion, vibrate  in  harmony  the  moment  the  connection 
is  established,  and  intelligence  may  be  conveyed  from 
one  to  the  other.  The  essential  condition  is  that  the 
wires  must  be  joined.  And  so  it  is  with  the  human 
instrumentalities.  They  are  identical  in  structure  in 
all  essential  particulars.  Each  individual  is  possessed 
of  the  mechanism  for  communicating  intelligence; 
and  the  condition  essential  to  communication  with 
each  other  is  that  their  "  wires  "  shall  be  connected. 
The  wires  of  the  human  instruments  are  the  nerves; 
the  connection  is  made  by  bringing  the  nerve  termi- 
nals into  contact,  and  this  is  done  by  the  laying  on 
of  hands. 

To  realize  that  this  is  unqualifiedly  true,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  recall  the  well-known  fact  that  personal 
contact  renders  experimental  thought-transference 
comparatively  easy.  The  Society  for  Psychical  Re- 
search has  demonstrated  this  fact  over  and  over  again. 
Moreover,  the  therapeutic  value  of  this  method  can 


INTRODUCTORY  173 

be  appreciated  only  when  it  is  known  that  it  is  vastly 
easier  to  convey  a  therapeutic  impulse  by  means  of 
personal  contact  than  it  is  to  transfer  a  thought  or 
a  message;  for  the  latter  can  be  made  available  only 
after  it  has  been  elevated  above  the  threshold  of 
normal  consciousness.  It  requires  a  good  deal  of 
psychic  power  to  enable  one  to  convey  a  telepathic 
message  to  another  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  understood, 
even  with  the  aid  of  personal  contact;  whereas  al- 
most any  one  can,  with  that  aid,  convey  an  effective 
therapeutic  impulse  or  histionic  suggestion.  The 
reason  is  that  a  telepathic  message  that  conveys 
specific  information  to  another  must  be  translated,  so 
to  speak,  into  terms  of  objective  experience;  whereas 
a  therapeutic  impulse  or  histionic  suggestion  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  language  of  the  soul,  and  it  requires 
no  translation  to  enable  another  soul  to  understand 
it.  Hence  it  is  that  young  children  are  susceptible 
to  its  influence  to  a  very  remarkable  degree.  Every 
sympathetic  mother  instinctively  employs  it  to  soothe 
the  pains  of  her  ailing  infant,  —  ignorantly,  it  is 
true,  but  often  with  marvellous  therapeutic  potency. 
Every  one  recalls,  with  reverent  gratitude,  the  sooth- 
ing influence  of  the  mother's  sympathetic  touch 
"  when  pain  and  anguish  wring  the  brow."  It  fol- 
lows that  if  this  method  of  healing  can  be  reduced 
to  a  science,  so  that  it  can  be  intelligently  applied  to 
old  and  young  alike,  by  any  one  possessed  of  common 
intelligence,  the  best  of  nature's  remedies  will  stand 
revealed. 

It  is  my  purpose  in  the  ensuing  chapters  of  this 
book  to  suggest  a  line  of  study  and  practice  which, 
it  is  hoped,  may  result  in  discoveries  that  will  invest 


174        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

so-called  "  magnetism  "  with  its  true  scientific  value. 
It  may  be  recalled,  by  those  familiar  with  my  first 
work,1  that  I  expressed  a  doubt  of  the  correctness 
of  the  magnetic  or  fluidic  theory,  but  expressed  a 
preference  for  its  methods  when  employed  as  a  thera- 
peutic agent.  I  was  not  then  so  well  prepared  with 
reasons  for  my  belief  as  I  am  now,  having  since 
devoted  nearly  a  decade,  practically,  to  the  study  of 
the  subject.  The  result  is  a  practical  confirmation  of 
the  views  then  outlined.  The  variations,  if  any  are 
to  be  found,  are  in  the  details,  and  are  the  result  of 
the  correlation  of  the  facts  of  physiology  with  those 
of  psychology.  I  shall  at  least  be  able  to  show  that 
the  magnetic  or  fluidic  theory  is  unnecessary ;  and  it 
is  an  axiom  of  science  that  an  unnecessary  hypothesis 
is  necessarily  wrong. 

If  I  succeed  in  this,  another  desirable  result  will 
have  been  accomplished ;  namely,  the  correlation  of  all 
the  facts  of  mental  therapeutics,  showing  that  they  all 
range  themselves  under  the  one  supreme  law  of  mental 
medicine,  —  Duality  and  Suggestion.  Hitherto  the 
adherents  of  the  magnetic  hypothesis  have  held  that 
their  system  constituted  an  exception  to  the  rule  that 
suggestion  is  the  prime  factor  in  the  production  of 
therapeutic  results.  If  this  were  true,  it  would  show 
that  neither  hypothesis  was  correct,  for  nature's  laws 
admit  of  no  exceptions.  One  exception  disproves  a 
hypothesis  with  just  as  much  scientific  certainty  as  a 
thousand. 

Again,  if  my  hypothesis  is  correct,  it  must  neces- 
sarily lead  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  practical 

1  See  "  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena,"  chaps,  viii.  and  ix.,  "  Hyp- 
notism and  Mesmerism." 


INTRO  D  UCTOR  Y  1/5 

methods  of  rendering  the  knowledge  thus  gained 
available  for  the  uses  of  mankind.  A  knowledge  of 
the  structure  of  a  machine  is  always  necessary  to 
enable  an  engineer  to  run  it,  and  to  keep  it  in  repair 
and  in  continuous  operation,  with  the  least  expendi- 
ture of  time  and  energy.  Without  that  knowledge 
one  may  succeed  for  a  time  in  running  a  machine,  but 
when  it  gets  out  of  order  he  is  at  a  loss  to  know  the 
cause;  and  in  his  attempts  to  repair  it  he  generally 
does  more  damage  than  good,  to  say  nothing  of  his 
waste  of  time  and  misdirected  energy. 

The  world  is  full  of  illustrative  examples  of  this 
kind  of  engineering  in  the  practice  of  mental  thera- 
peutics. Without  the  slightest  knowledge  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  mental  medicine,  healers 
sometimes  succeed  in  hitting  the  right  spot  in  the 
machine  to  set  it  in  motion,  just  as  a  small  boy 
might  accidentally  open  the  throttle  of  a  locomotive 
engine  and  set  it  in  motion ;  the  result  in  either  case, 
good  or  bad,  depending,  not  upon  knowledge  of  the 
machine,  but  certainly  upon  "  circumstances  beyond 
their  control." 

To  a  certain  extent  magnetic  healers  are  also 
handicapped,  not  by  that  crass  and  dismal  ignorance 
which  is  the  inseparable  concomitant  of  superstition, 
but  by  their  strenuous  adherence  to  a  hypothesis  that 
is  often  misleading,  and  hence  necessarily  unsound. 
Nor  is  it  because  their  methods  of  mechanical  ma- 
nipulation are  entirely  wrong,  but  because  it  is  often 
misdirected,  thus  entailing  upon  themselves  a  vast 
amount  of  labor  that  is  useless  to  the  patient.  Never- 
theless, they  are  often  successful  in  effecting  cures 
that  are  little  short  of  the  miraculous;  and  this  is 


176        THE  LAW   OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

presumptive  evidence  that  their  failures  are  due  to 
misdirected  applications  of  methods  that  are  in  them- 
selves substantially  correct. 

It  is  my  purpose  to  point  out  a  system  of  practice 
by  means  of  which  greater  certainty  of  results  may 
be  attained  with  less  labor  on  the  part  of  the  healer. 
Based  upon  the  undisputed  psycho-physiological  facts 
of  science,  the  practice  will  be  found  to  be  simple  to 
the  last  degree,  and  it  may  be  successfully  employed 
in  the  family  by  any  one  of  ordinary  intelligence ;  for 
nature  has  supplied  the  means  for  an  inerrant  diag- 
nosis, and  physiological  science  has  long  ago  unwit- 
tingly revealed  the  exact  locations  where  the  stimuli 
are  to  be  applied.  I  say  "  unwittingly,"  for  the  sci- 
ences of  anatomy,  physiology,  and  histology  have 
been  developed  independently  of  medical  theories  or 
therapeutical  hypotheses.  Scientists  have  simply  told 
us  what  the  scalpel  and  the  microscope  reveal  as  to 
our  physical  structure,  and  left  therapeutists  to  draw 
their  own  conclusions.  It  follows  that  no  system  of 
therapeutics  can  be  complete  when  the  great  body  of 
knowledge  thus  gained  is  ignored.  I  refer  more  par- 
ticularly to  those  systems  which  depend  upon  mate- 
rial remedies,  i.  e.,  drugs  and  medicines ;  or  upon 
digital  manipulation  or  laying  on  of  hands,  other- 
wise, magnetic  treatment,  so  called.  Purely  mental 
healing,  or  suggestive  therapeutics,  stands  upon  a 
somewhat  different  footing,  for  reasons  that  need 
not  be  here  discussed.  I  desire  to  say,  however,  in 
this  connection,  that  what  is  to  follow  in  this  book 
must  not  be  construed  as  militating  in  the  slightest 
degree  against  what  has  been  said  of  the  law  of  sug- 
gestion, or  the  potency  of  suggestion  as  a  therapeutic 


INTRO D  UCTOR  Y  1/7 

agency.  Suggestion  plays  its  subtle  role,  for  good  or 
ill,  in  all  systems  of  healing.  It  is  a  constant  force  or 
energy,  which,  like  gravity,  may  be  directed,  but  not 
evaded,  —  utilized,  but  not  with  impunity  ignored. 

There  is,  however,  necessarily  a  vast  difference  in 
the  therapeutic  value  of  the  different  forms  of  sug- 
gestion, the  effectiveness  of  each  depending  upon  the 
mental  condition  which  it  induces  in  the  patient. 
Hence  it  is  that  a  form  of  suggestion  that  is  effec- 
tive in  one  case  will  utterly  fail  in  another.  It  fol- 
lows that  the  skill  of  the  practitioner  consists  largely 
in  his  ability  to  adapt  his  suggestions  to  the  exigen- 
cies of  each  particular  case,  —  that  is,  to  the  mental 
status  of  each  patient.  Hence  it  is  that  in  many  cases 
under  present  practice  hypnotism  is  resorted  to  in 
order  to  enable  the  operator  to  command  the  neces- 
sary mental  conditions  by  shutting  out  all  adverse 
objective  influences  or  auto-suggestions. 

I  shall  have  no  difficulty  in  showing  that  histionic 
suggestion  combines  all  that  is  valuable  in  all  other 
forms  of  suggestion;  and,  moreover,  that  it  renders 
hypnotism  unnecessary  in  any  case.  Not  that  the 
element  of  faith  can  be  dispensed  with  in  this  pro- 
cess, but  that  it  can  be  inspired  with  a  certainty  of 
results  unattainable  by  any  other  process,  and  in 
defiance  of  adverse  auto-suggestions,  or  any  other 
adverse  influence  whatsoever. 

The  intelligent  student  of  mental  medicine  will 
at  once  recognize  this  as  the  great  desideratum  in 
psycho-therapeutics;  for  all  systems  heretofore  de- 
vised have  been  handicapped  by  the  ever-present  dif- 
ficulty of  securing  the  necessary  mental  conditions 
in  the  patient. 

12 


178         THE  LAW   OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

Iii  a  word,  I  shall  attempt  to  show  that  the  oldest, 
most  effective,  and,  among  primitive  peoples,  the 
most  universally  practised  system  of  mental  healing 
that  history  mentions,  can  be  reduced  to  a  science 
and  practised  intelligently;  for  it  is  founded  upon 
a  law  of  nature  that  is  as  universal  and  as  beneficent 
as  the  love  of  God  for  his  children. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   PHYSICAL  MECHANISM   THROUGH   WHICH 
MENTAL   HEALING   IS   EFFECTED 

Evidence  for  a  Duplex  Mechanism  corresponding  to  Dual  Mental  Or- 
ganism furnished  by  Anatomy  and  Histology.  —  Historical  Sketch 
of  the  Science  of  Histology.  —  Cells  and  Cytods.  —  Unicellular  and 
Pluricellular  Organisms.  —  The  Various  Species  of  Body-Cells  and 
their  Functions.  —  The  Body  a  Confederation  of  Groups  of  Cells. — 
Every  Body-Cell  a  Mind  Organism  endowed  with  Intelligence  Com- 
mensurate with  its  Function.  — The  Confederated  Cells  dominated 
by  a  Central  Intelligence.  —  The  Influence  exercised  by  the  Con- 
trolling Intelligence  a  Mental  One. 

THUS  far  in  the  history  of  the  scientific  inves- 
tigation of  mental  therapeutics  attention  has 
been  directed  almost  exclusively  to  the  psychological 
aspects  of  the  question.  This  was  natural,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  mental  healing,  as  its  name  im- 
plies, is  primarily  a  psychological  phenomenon,  and 
success  in  mental  healing  necessarily  depends  upon 
mental  conditions.  This  being  recognized,  it  was 
inevitable  that  the  attention  of  scientists  should  first 
be  directed  to  an  inquiry  as  to  the  practical  methods 
of  inducing  those  conditions ;  and  that  was  naturally 
thought  to  be  a  purely  psychological  problem.  Be- 
sides, the  light  which  the  new  psychology  has  shed 
upon  that  problem  is  so  brilliant,  and  so  satisfac- 
tory in  its  practical  application  to  the  subject-matter, 


1 80        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

that  for  the  time  being  all  other  questions  have  been 
ignored  as  subsidiary,  if  not  unimportant. 

The  fact  remains  that  there  are  some  very  impor- 
tant questions  relating  to  mental  therapeutics  that 
have  not  yet  been  adequately  considered, — questions 
that  reach  the  very  heart  of  the  subject-matter,  both 
as  to  evidential  importance  and  its  practical  value  in 
the  treatment  of  disease. 

•  It  is  true  that  mental  healing  belongs  primarily  to 
the  domain  of  psychology,  and  that  without  a  clear 
understanding  of  the  fundamental  facts  of  man's 
psychological  make-up  mental  medicine  would  still 
be  and  remain  in  the  dismal  realms  of  fable  and 
superstition.  But  it  is  also  true  that  the  mental 
power  which  heals  resides  within  the  physical  or- 
ganism which  is  healed.  It  follows  that  if  it  is  true 
that  the  bodily  functions  and  conditions  are  thus 
controlled,  there  must  exist  some  evidence  of  the 
fact  in  the  bodily  structure  itself.  That  is  to  say, 
if  the  mind  controls  the  body,  it  must  do  so  by 
means  of  appropriate  mechanism;  and,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  such  mechanism,  science  would  be  com- 
pelled to  reject  all  other  evidence  of  mental  control 
of  bodily  functions.  On  the  other  hand,  if  it  can 
be  shown  that  such  mechanism  exists,  that  it  is  co- 
extensive with  the  physical  organism,  and  that  it  is 
obviously  adapted  to  the  uses  of  conveying  intelli- 
gence from  one  part  of  the  body  to  another,  the 
evidence  will  be  complete  that  the  mind  controls  the 
bodily  functions.  Then,  if  it  is  found  that  there 
exists  a  duplex  mechanism  the  functions,  powers, 
and  limitations  of  which  correspond  to  what  is 
known  of  those  of  the  dual  mental  organism,  it 


THE  PHYSICAL  MECHANISM  l8l 

will  constitute  indubitable  evidence  of  the  scientific 
validity  of  our  hypothesis  of  mental  duality,  and  pre- 
sumptive evidence  of  the  soundness  of  the  theory  of 
mental  medicine  which  we  have  outlined  in  Part  I. 

Fortunately,  we  have  not  far  to  look  for  abundant 
demonstrative  proofs  of  the  existence  of  mechanism 
especially  adapted  to  the  uses  named.  We  have  but 
to  turn  to  any  of  the  standard  works  on  anatomy 
and  histology,  —  sciences  which  investigate,  respec- 
tively, the  structure  of  the  body  as  it  may  be  seen  by 
the  naked  eye,  and  the  minute  structure  of  the  tissues 
as  seen  with  the  microscope.  In  dealing  with  this 
branch  of  the  subject,  I  shall  not  travel  outside  of 
the  recognized  paths  of  science  as  outlined  in  the 
works  of  standard  authorities.  It  is  to  histology,  or 
microscopic  anatomy,  that  we  must  look  for  the 
mechanism  through  which  the  mind  controls  the 
bodily  functions  in  health  and  disease. 

Histology,  as  it  is  now  universally  accepted,  is  a 
comparatively  new  science ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  based 
upon  facts  of  comparatively  recent  discovery.  Like 
all  other  sciences,  however,  it  is  the  product  of  evo- 
lutionary development.  It  may  be  said  to  have  had 
its  origin  in  the  seventeenth  century  through  the 
discoveries  of  Hooke,  Malpighi,  and  Grew.  These 
scientists,  making  observations  with  the  simple  and 
imperfect  microscopes  of  their  day,  saw  in  plants 
small  compartment-like  spaces,  each  surrounded  by  a 
distinct  wall  and  filled  with  air  or  a  liquid.  To  these 
the  name  cell  was  applied.  During  the  latter  part 
of  the  seventeenth  and  the  eighteenth  century  these 
earlier  observations  were  confirmed,  and  extended  in 
various  directions.  No  substantial  advance  was  made, 


1 82         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

however,  until  Robert  Brown  (1831)  discovered  a 
small  body  in  the  cell  which  is  now  known  as  the 
nucleus.  Five  years  later,  Valentin  observed  in  the 
nucleus  a  small  body  now  known  as  the  nucleolus. 
Schleidin,  in  1838,  adduced  proofs  to  show  that 
plants  were  wholly  made  up  of  cells,  and  attached 
special  importance  to  the  nuclei  of  cells.  The  next 
discovery  was  by  Schwann,  in  1839.  It  was  he  who 
originated  the  theory  that  the  animal  body  was  built 
up  of  cells,  resembling  those  described  for  plants; 
and  he  defined  a  cell  as  a  small  vesicle,  surrounded 
by  a  firm  membrane  inclosing  a  fluid  in  which  floats 
a  nucleus.  This  conception  of  the  structure  of  the 
cell  was  destined,  however,  to  undergo  important 
modification.  In  1846  Von  Mohl  recognized  in  the 
cell  a  semi-fluid,  granular  substance  which  he  named 
protoplasm;  other  investigators  observed  animal  cells 
that  were  devoid  of  a  distinct  cell  membrane;  and 
Max  Schultze,  in  1861,  attacked  vigorously  the  older 
conception  of  the  structure  of  cells,  proclaiming  the 
identity  of  the  protoplasm  in  all  forms  of  life,  both 
plant  and  animal,  and  defining  the  cell  as  "  a  nucle- 
ated mass  of  protoplasm  endowed  with  the  attributes 
of  life."  In  this  sense  the  term  cell  is  now  gen- 
erally used.1  The  definition  of  a  cell  has  been  still 
further  modified  by  the  discovery  that  a  nucleus  is 
not  essential,  for  none  exists  in  the  cryptogamia  and 
in  some  of  the  lowest  animal  forms.  In  these  ex- 
ceptional cases  the  cell  consists  of  a  simple  mass  of 
protoplasm.2 

Haeckel,  however,  does  not  recognize  the  lowest 

1  Bohm-Davidoff,  Text-book  of  Histology. 

2  Green,  Pathology  and  Morbid  Anatomy. 


THE  PHYSICAL  MECHANISM  183 

forms  of  animals  by  the  term  cells ;  "  for  cells  by 
no  means  represent  the  lowest  grade  of  organic 
individuality,  as  that  is  usually  understood."  The 
cytods,  for  example,  are  "  living,  independent  exist- 
ences which  consist  merely  of  an  atom  of  plasson, 
—  in  other  words,  of  an  entirely  homogeneous  atom 
of  albuminous  substance,  which  is  not  yet  differen- 
tiated into  nucleus  and  protoplasm,  but  exercises  the 
properties  of  both  united.  For  example,  the  remark- 
able monera  are  cytods  of  this  kind.  Strictly  speak- 
ing, we  should  say,  the  elementary  organism,  or  the 
individual  of  the  first  order,  occurs  in  two  different 
grades.  The  first  and  lowest  is  the  cytod,  which 
consists  of  an  atom  of  simple  plasson.  The  second 
and  higher  grade  is  the  cell,  which  has  been  differen- 
tiated into  nucleus  and  protoplasm."  * 

This,  however,  is  a  question  of  terminology  which, 
for  present  purposes,  is  unimportant.  The  fact  re- 
mains, as  Haeckel  proceeds  to  say,  that  "  both  grades, 
cytods  and  cells,  are  grouped  together  under  the  idea 
of  sculptors  or  builders,  because  they  alone  in  reality 
build  the  organism."  That  is  to  say,  every  living 
physical  organism  in  this  world  is  built  up  of  cytods 
and  cells;  and  this  is  the  first  salient  fact  which  I 
desire  the  reader  to  bear  in  mind. 

Before  proceeding  to  discuss  this  matter  in  detail, 
however,  I  desire  to  remind  the  reader  that  all  liv- 
ing animal  organisms  are  divisible,  broadly,  into  two 
classes,  —  namely,  unicellular  organisms  and  pluri- 
cellular  organisms.  The  former,  as  the  term  in- 
dicates, are  one-celled  creatures,  and  represent  the 
lowest  forms  of  animal  life,  —  the  beginning  of  ani- 

Haeckel,  The  Evolution  of  Man,  vol.  i.  p.  130. 


1 84        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

mal  life  on  this  planet,  the  earliest  of  man's  earthly 
ancestors,  the  primordial  germs  from  which  all  liv- 
ing creatures  on  this  planet  have  been  developed 
through  the  processes  of  organic  evolution.  The 
latter  are  simply  aggregations  or  associations  of  the 
former;  that  is  to  say,  pluricellular  organisms  are 
merely  confederated  associations  of  unicellular  crea- 
tures, —  a  later  development  from  unicellular  life. 

The  unicellular  organism  was,  and  still  is,  the 
true  terrestrial  type  of  life;  for  it  displays  all  the 
functions,  in  miniature,  exhibited  by  pluricellular 
creatures,  namely,  feeling,  motion,  nutrition,  and 
reproduction,  the  sum  of  which  constitutes  the  idea 
of  life.  "  All  these  properties  which  the  multicellu- 
lar,  highly  developed  animal  possesses,  appear  in 
each  cell,  at  least  in  its  youth.  There  is  no  longer 
any  doubt  about  this  fact,  and  we  may  therefore  re- 
gard it  as  the  basis  of  our  physiological  idea  of  the 
elementary  organism"  (Haeckel).  In  other  words, 
there  is  but  one  type  of  life  on  the  surface  of  our 
planet,  and  that  is  the  unicellular;  and  this  type  is 
preserved  in  all  the  forms  of  life.  The  unicellular 
organisms  are  termed  "  protozoans."  Pluricellular 
organisms  are  termed  "  metazoans." 

It  would  be  highly  interesting  to  follow  the  phylo- 
genetic  development  of  the  cell  from  the  moneron  to 
man;  but  that  is  outside  the  purpose  of  this  book. 
It  must  suffice  to  say  that  the  metazoans  were  at  first 
simple  aggregations  of  the  protozoans;  and  the  fact 
of  aggregation  does  not  seem  to  have  modified  the 
separate  unicellular  lives,  for  each  retains  its  com- 
plete autonomy,  performing  all  the  functions  of  a 
separate  life.  Change  of  conditions,  or  mutations 


THE  PHYSICAL  MECHANISM  185 

of  environment,  however,  led  to  more  permanent 
grouping,  and  compelled  modification  and  differen- 
tiation of  functions,  until  at  length  it  became  impos- 
sible to  dissolve  the  bond  by  which  the  unicellular 
lives  were  united.  Thus  the  way  was  opened  for 
further  differentiation  of  functions,  and  thencefor- 
ward organic  evolution  proceeded  on  those  lines. 
That  is  to  say,  the  moment  that  an  aggregation  of 
cells  became  a  confederation,  with  its  differentiation 
of  cell  functions  and  consequent  division  of  labor, 
every  further  step  in  advance  consisted  in  increased 
differentiation  of  cell  functions  and  still  further  divi- 
sion of  labor.  As  a  result  of  a  long  process  of  such 
differentiation,  the  organisms  of  the  larger  animals 
and  of  man  came  to  be  composed,  as  we  find  them, 
of  thirty  or  more  different  species  of  cells.1  For 
example,  we  have  the  muscle  cells,  whose  vital  ener- 
gies are  devoted  to  the  office  of  contraction,  or  vigor- 
ous shortening  of  length;  connective  tissue  cells, 
whose  office  is  mainly  to  produce  and  conserve  a 
tough  fibre  for  binding  together  and  covering  in  the 
organism;  bone  cells,  whose  life  work  it  is  to  select 
and  collocate  salts  of  lime  for  the  organic  frame- 
work, levers,  and  joints ;  hair,  nail,  horn,  and  feather 
cells,  which  work  in  silicates  for  the  protection,  de- 
fence, and  ornamentation  of  the  organism;  gland 
cells,  whose  motif  in  living  has  come  to  be  the 
abstraction  from  the  blood  of  substances  which 
are  recombined  to  produce  juices  needed  to  aid  the 
various  processes  or  steps  of  digestion;  blood  cells, 
which  have  assumed  the  laborious  function  of  gen- 
eral carriers,  scavengers,  and  repairers  of  the  organ- 

1  Stephens,  Pluricellular  Man. 


1 86        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

ism;  eye,  ear,  nasal,  and  palate  cells,  which  have 
become  the  special  artificers  of  complicated  apparatus 
for  transmitting  light,  sound,  odors,  and  flavors  to 
the  highly  sentient  brain  cells ;  pulmonary  cells,  which 
elaborate  a  tissue  for  the  introduction  of  oxygen  and 
the  elimination  of  carbon  dioxide  and  other  waste 
products;  hepatic  (liver)  cells,  which  have,  in  re- 
sponse to  the  needs  of  the  organism,  descended  to 
the  menial  office  of  living  on  the  waste  products  and 
converting  them  into  chemical  reagents  to  facilitate 
digestion,  —  these  and  numerous  other  species  of 
cells;  and  lastly,  most  important  and  of  greatest 
interest,  brain  and  nerve  cells.1  These  cells  are  of 
the  greatest  interest  and  importance,  for  the  obvious 
reason  that  they  are  the  most  highly  differentiated 
of  all  the  cells  of  the  body,  and  constitute,  respec- 
tively, the  organ  of  objective  intelligence  and  the 
means  of  communicating  information  from  one  part 
of  the  body  to  another. 

Without  going  further  into  details  for  the  pres- 
ent, it  must  suffice  to  say  that  each  organ  of  the  body 
is  composed  of  a  group  of  cells  which  are  differen- 
tiated with  special  reference  to  the  functions  to  be 
performed  by  that  organ.  In  other  words,  every 
function  of  life  is  performed  by  groups  of  co-oper- 
ating cells,  so  that  the  body  as  a  whole  is  simply  a 
confederation  of  the  various  groups.  And,  to  the 
end  that  the  body  may  act  as  a  unit,  these  groups 
are  connected,  each  to  all  the  others,  by  lines  of 
intercommunication,  which,  in  turn,  are  composed 
of  other  highly  differentiated  and  specialized  cells, 
namely,  brain  and  nerve  cells.  Not  only  are  the 

1  Op.  cit. 


THE  PHYSICAL  MECHANISM  187 

various  groups  thus  connected  by  lines  of  intercom- 
munication, but  these  lines  reach,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, every  individual  cell  in  the  whole  organism. 
This  is  elementary;  for  everybody  knows  that  when 
any  part  of  the  organism  is  assailed,  information  of 
the  fact  is  instantly  conveyed  through  the  nerves  to 
the  "  central  office,"  so  to  speak,  and  there  measures 
for  protecting  the  part  are  as  instantaneously  devised 
and  the  appropriate  commands  issued.  Thus,  if  one 
of  the  extremities  is  pricked  with  a  needle's  point, 
the  cell  thus  assailed  instantaneously  conveys  infor- 
mation of  the  assault  through  the  nerves  to  the  brain, 
which,  in  turn,  issues  its  edict,  through  the  appro- 
priate nerve  cells,  to  all  the  muscle  and  other  cells 
surrounding  the  injured  cell,  commanding  them  to 
unite  their  forces  and  remove  the  part  assailed  from 
the  point  of  danger.  This  sounds  like  an  elaborate 
process,  requiring  considerable  time  to  effect  it;  but 
it  is  just  what  actually  happens  when  one's  great  toe 
is  pricked  and  he  jerks  it  away.  It  is  called  "  reac- 
tion," and  in  a  sense  it  is;  but  the  remedy  applied  is 
the  result  of  a  series  of  mental  processes,  beginning 
with  the  message  sent  to  the  brain  by  the  injured  cell, 
and  ending  by  the  application  of  the  united  forces  of 
the  muscle  cells  to  the  removal  of  the  injured  cell 
from  t^e  point  of  danger.  The  time  required  is 
inappreciable  to  the  unaided  senses;  but  it  does, 
nevertheless,  require  a  measurable  interval  of  time 
to  initiate  and  complete  the  process,  as  scientists 
have  amply  demonstrated  by  means  of  instruments 
of  precision.  It  is,  therefore,  a  process,  involving 
in  its  every  step  the  exercise  of  intelligence  and  the 
employment  of  mechanism. 


1 88         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

It  follows,  a  priori,  that  every  cell  in  the  body  is 
endowed  with  intelligence;  and  this  is  precisely  what 
all  biological  science  tells  us  is  true.  Beginning  with 
the  lowest  form  of  animal  life,  the  humblest  cytod, 
every  living  cell  is  endowed  with  a  wonderful  in- 
telligence. There  is,  in  fact,  no  line  to  be  drawn 
between  life  and  mind;  that  is  to  say,  every  living 
organism  is  a  mind  organism,  from  the  monera, 
crawling  upon  the  bed  of  the  ocean,  to  the  most 
highly  differentiated  cell  in  the  cerebral  cortex  of 
man.  Volumes  have  been  written  to  demonstrate 
that  "  psychological  phenomena  begin  among  the 
very  lowest  class  of  beings ;  they  are  met  with  in 
every  form  of  life,  from  the  simplest  cellule  to  the 
most  complicated  organism.  It  is  they  that  are  the 
essential  phenomena  of  life,  inherent  in  all  proto- 
plasm." *  It  is,  in  fact,  an  axiom  of  science  that 
the  lowest  unicellular  organism  is  endowed  with  the 
potentialities  of  manhood. 

I  have  remarked  that  each  living  cell  is  endowed 
with  a  wonderful  intelligence.  This  is  emphatically 
true,  whether  it  is  a  unicellular  organism  or  a  con- 
stituent element  of  a  multicellular  organism.  Its 
wonderful  character  consists,  not  so  much  in  the 
amount  of  intelligence  possessed  by  each  individual 
cell,  as  it  does  in  the  quality  of  that  intelligence. 
That  is  to  say,  each  cell  is  endowed  with  an  instinc- 
tive, or  intuitive,  knowledge  of  all  that  is  essential 
to  the  preservation  of  its  own  life,  the  conservation  of 
its  energies,  and  the  perpetuation  of  its  species.  In 
other  words,  it  is  endowed  with  an  intuitive  knowl- 
edge of  the  laws  of  its  own  being,  which  knowl- 

1  Binet,  The  Psychic  Life  of  Micro-organisms. 


THE  PHYSICAL  MECHANISM  189 

edge  is  proportioned  to  its  stage  of  development  and 
adapted  to  its  environment.  Thus,  the  unicellular 
organism  is  endowed,  antecedently  to  and  indepen- 
dently of  reason,  experience,  or  instruction,  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  ways  and  means  of  obtaining 
nourishment.  A  mass  of  unorganized  protoplasm, 
it  projects  portions  of  itself  (pseudopodia),  and 
thus  performs  the  act  of  locomotion  in  search  of 
food.  When  food  is  found,  it  is  enveloped  in  the 
mass  of  protoplasm,  digested,  and  assimilated.  It 
has  the  power  of  choice,  for  it  rejects  that  which  is 
unwholesome,  retaining  only  that  which  is  nourish- 
ing. It  has  memory,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that, 
having  once  encountered  danger,  it  will  afterwards 
avoid  it  when  presented  under  similar  circumstances 
(Mcebius),  or,  having  found  food  in  one  locality,  it 
will  afterwards  seek  it  in  the  same  direction  (Gates). 
In  fact,  memory  is  one  of  the  most  elementary  of 
psychological  facts  (Binet).  It  is  susceptible  to  the 
emotions  of  surprise  and  fear,  as  is  clearly  shown  by 
Binet's  experiments  with  Infusoria.  It  has  feeling, 
for  it  reacts  to  peripheral  stimuli  (Haeckel).  It 
adapts  means  to  ends,  near  and  remote,  as  is  shown 
by  Verworn's  1  experiments  with  the  Difflugia.  And, 
finally,  it  reproduces  itself  by  fission  or  segmentation. 
Binet,  in  his  preface  to  the  American  edition  of 
his  great  work  on  "  The  Psychic  Life  of  Micro- 
organisms," concludes  a  summary  of  the  psycho- 
logical properties  of  the  lower  orders  of  unicellular 
organisms  in  the  words  following :  "We  shall  not  re- 
gard it  as  strange,  perhaps,  to  find  so  complete  a 
psychology  in  the  history  of  the  lower  organisms, 

l  Quoted  by  Binet. 


190         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

when  we  call  to  mind  that,  agreeably  to  the  ideas  of 
evolution  now  accepted,  a  higher  animal  is  nothing 
more  than  a  colony  of  protozoans.  Every  one  of 
the  cells  composing  such  an  animal  has  retained  its 
primitive  properties,  giving  them  a  higher  degree  of 
perfection  by  division  of  labor  and  by  selection.  The 
epithelial  cells  that  secrete  the  nails  and  the  hair  are 
organisms  perfected  with  reference  to  the  secretion 
of  protective  parts.  Similarly,  the  cells  of  the  brain 
are  organisms  that  have  been  perfected  with  refer- 
ence to  psychical  attributes." 

The  salient  point  to  be  observed  here  is  that,  so 
far  as  the  physical  sciences  reveal  the  structure  of 
man,  he  is  composed  wholly  of  confederated  cells, 
each  one  of  which  has  been  developed  and  perfected 
with  special  reference  to  its  place  in  the  organism 
and  the  function  assigned  to  it.  Nor  must  it  be 
forgotten  that  each  individual  cell  is  a  mind  organ- 
ism, and  that  it  is  endowed  with  an  intelligence  com- 
mensurate with  the  duties  it  has  to  perform.  Now, 
the  one  specific  duty  which  each  cell  has  to  perform, 
under  normal  conditions,  is  to  do  its  part  toward  the 
preservation  of  the  life,  health,  and  well-being  of  the 
confederated  organism.  Under  normal  conditions, 
that  is,  when  no  disturbing  influences  are  at  work, 
this  task  is  performed  easily  and  without  friction; 
that  is  to  say,  in  the  absence  of  disease  or  traumatic 
disturbances,  each  cell  is  in  perfect  health  and  auto- 
matically performs  its  specific  function  without  dis- 
turbing its  neighbors. 

But  it  has  other  duties  to  perform  in  which  its 
intelligence  is  more  pronouncedly  in  evidence.  In 
case  of  disease  or  accident  it  is  charged  with  the 


THE  PHYSICAL  MECHANISM  Ipl 

duty  of  repairing  the  organism  and  restoring  normal 
conditions;  and  this  it  does  with  an  intelligence  and 
energy  that  savors  of  creative  power.  No  one  needs 
to  be  told  with  what  promptitude  and  energy  and 
intelligence  nature  sets  to  work  to  heal  a  wound  or 
unite  a  fractured  bone,  under  favoring  conditions, 
mental  and  physical.  No  surgeon  pretends  to  be 
able  to  do  more  than  establish  those  conditions,  and 
let  nature  do  the  rest;  and  every  intelligent  sur- 
geon or  physician  will  tell  us  that  nature  does  its 
work  of  healing  through  the  co-operative  efforts  of 
millions  of  intelligent  entities,  known  to  science  as 
cells. 

Nor  will  any  intelligent  physician  or  surgeon  or 
biologist  gainsay  the  proposition  that  these  mind 
organisms  are  governed,  controlled,  and  directed  in 
their  work  by  a  central  intelligence  resident  within 
the  organism.  Scientists  may  differ  as  to  the  proper 
terminology  by  which  the  central  intelligence  should 
be  designated;  but  no  one  denies  its  existence,  or 
its  power  to  control  its  millions  of  subordinates. 
Thus,  it  has  been  called  the  "  subconscious  mind," 
the  "  unconscious  mind,"  the  "  secondary  self,"  the 
"  subliminal  consciousness,"  the  "  communal  soul," 
the  "  secondary  personality,"  etc.,  the  various  terms 
employed  being  governed  largely  by  the  point  of  view 
from  which  the  subject  is  treated.  I  have  designated 
it  as  the  "  subjective  mind,"  for  reasons  which  have 
already  been  set  forth.  Philosophers  may  differ  in 
opinion  as  to  its  origin  and  its  ultimate  destiny ;  and 
biologists  may  not  be  agreed  as  to  just  what  it  is, 
—  that  is  to  say,  whether  it  is  the  sum  of  all  the  in- 
telligences of  which  the  body  is  composed,  or  whether 


192         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

it  is  an  independent  entity  capable  of  surviving  the 
dissolution  of  the  confederacy  which  it  controls. 

None  of  these  questions,  however,  are  at  issue  in 
this  discussion;  for  the  one  salient  fact  upon  which 
all  who  are  acquainted  with  the  propaedeutics  of 
experimental  psychology  are  agreed,  is  that  it  exists, 
that  it  is  an  intelligence,  and  that  it  controls  the 
functions  of  the  confederated  cells  of  the  physical 
organisms  of  all  sentient  creatures.  Even  Haeckel, 
the  great  materialist,  who  apparently  knows  nothing 
of  the  new  psychology,  in  discussing  the  third  stage 
of  phyletic  psychogenesis,  has  this  to  say  of  what  he 
calls  the  "  tissue  soul  "  :  "  This  '  tissue  soul '  is  the 
higher  psychological  function  which  gives  physio- 
logical individuality  to  the  compound  multicellular 
organism  as  a  true  '  cell  commonwealth.'  It  con- 
trols all  the  separate  '  cell  souls '  of  the  social  cells 
—  the  mutually  dependent  *  citizens '  which  consti- 
tute the  community."  *  This  he  holds  to  be  true 
alike  of  plants  and  animals. 

It  is,  however,  a  work  of  supererogation  to  dwell 
upon  the  obvious  fact  that  a  confederation  of  intelli- 
gences, organized  for  a  specific  purpose,  must  act  in 
subordination  to  some  central  power  or  authority. 
Such  a  power  is  as  much  a  biological  necessity  as  an 
executive  officer  is  a  political  necessity  to  a  state  or 
nation.  In  point  of  fact,  the  cell  commonwealth  is 
more  nearly  analogous  to  an  irresponsible  despotism 
than  to  any  other  form  of  human  government;  for 
the  central  power  not  only  controls  the  organism  as 
a  unit,  but  it  controls  each  group  of  cells  (organ) 
and  each  individual  cell  in  the  whole  organism.  This 

1  Riddle  of  the  Universe,  p.  157. 


THE  PHYSICAL  MECHANISM  193 

is  also  a  biological  necessity,  for  there  can  be  no 
legislative  authority  to  share  the  power  or  the  re- 
sponsibility. That  it  is  true  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  the  central  power  is  in  possession  of  the  means 
of  reaching  not  only  each  group  of  cells,  but  each 
individual  cell  in  the  whole  organism.  This  subject, 
however,  will  be  discussed  when  we  come  to  point  out 
the  mechanism  by  which  this  is  rendered  possible. 

In  the  meantime  I  submit  that  I  have  already 
shown  that  the  physical  organism  is  especially  adapted 
to  the  reception  of  mental  influences ;  for  each  particu- 
lar part  of  it  is  a  mind  organism,  every  function  of 
which  is  controlled  by  an  organized  intelligence.  The 
influence  exercised  by  the  controlling  intelligence  is, 
therefore,  a  mental  influence,  pure  and  simple;  for, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  it  can  be  no  other. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE  PHYSICAL  MECHANISM  THROUGH  WHICH 
MENTAL  HEALING  IS  EFFECTED  (Continued) 

The  Cerebro-Spinal  and  the  Sympathetic  Nervous  Systems.  —  The 
Former  controls  the  Voluntary  Movements  and  is  dominated  by 
the  Objective  Mind.  —  The  Latter  controls  the  Involuntary  Move- 
ments and  is  dominated  by  the  Subjective  Mind.  —  The  Subjective 
Mind  can  usurp  the  Functions  of  the  Cerebro-Spinal  System. — 
The  Objective  Mind  powerless  to  control  directly  a  purely  Involun- 
tary Muscle.  —  A  Nexus  between  the  two  Nervous  Systems  corre- 
sponding to  that  between  the  two  Minds.  —  The  Nerve  Connections 
between  the  two  Systems  enable  the  Objective  Mind  to  communi- 
cate its  Therapeutic  Suggestions  to  the  Subjective.  —  The  Pseudo- 
podia  of  Unicellular  Organisms.  —  Protoplasmic  Filaments  the 
Means  of  Communication  between  Body-Cells.  —  This  is  effected 
by  Physical  Contact.  —  The  Nerve  and  Brain  Cells  highly  special- 
ized for  this  Purpose. —  Being  Mind  Organisms,  the  Energy  in- 
volved in  the  Transmission  of  Sensation  is  a  Mental  One. 

NO  one  needs  to  be  told  that  the  nerves  are  the 
lines  of  communication  through  which  the 
mind  receives  intelligence  from,  and  issues  its  man- 
dates to,  every  part  of  the  body ;  but  the  special  adap- 
tation of  the  means  to  the  ends  is  not  so  generally 
understood. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  inflict  upon  the  reader  a 
lengthy  dissertation  on  the  subject  of  the  nervous 
system  of  man,  but  to  outline  a  few  of  the  salient  facts 
which  bear  upon  the  subject  of  mental  medicine. 


THE  PHYSICAL  MECHANISM  195 

Before  proceeding,  however,  to  describe  the  struc- 
ture of  the  nerves  with  reference  to  their  functional 
activities  as  carriers  of  intelligence  and  therapeutic 
impulses,  I  desire  to  say  one  word  in  reference  to 
the  structure  of  the  nervous  system  with  reference 
to  the  theory  of  mental  duality.  Postulating  a  duplex 
mental  organism,  such  as  experimental  psychology 
reveals,  we  have  a  logical  right,  a  priori,  to  expect 
to  find  confirmatory  evidence  of  the  fact  in  a  corre- 
sponding nervous  organism.  Accordingly  we  find 
that  man  is  endowed  with  two  nervous  systems,  — 
namely,  the  cerebro-spinal  nervous  system  and  the 
sympathetic  nervous  system.  If,  now,  we  find  that 
the  two  nervous  systems  correspond  in  function  to 
the  known  powers  and  limitations  of  the  two  minds, 
it  will  constitute  conclusive  proof  of  the  correctness 
of  the  theory  of  mental  duality. 

Beginning,  then,  with  the  cerebro-spinal  system, 
we  know  that,  as  its  name  indicates,  it  is  presided 
over  by  the  brain,  the  organ  of  the  objective  mind, 
and  that  it  controls  the  voluntary  movements  of  the 
body.  On  the  other  hand,  the  sympathetic  system 
presides  over  all  involuntary  movements,  such  as 
nutrition,  secretion,  vaso-motor  action,  reproduction, 
etc.  Its  centre  of  functional  activity  is  the  solar 
plexis,  sometimes  called  the  "  abdominal  brain."  * 
In  using  this  term,  says  Dr.  Robinson,  "  I  mean  to 
convey  the  idea  that  it  is  endowed  with  the  high 
powers  and  phenomena  of  a  great  nervous  centre; 
that  it  can  organize,  multiply,  and  diminish  forces."2 

1  See  Robinson  on  "  The  Abdominal  Brain  and  Automatic  Visceral 
Ganglia." 

2  Op.  cit,  p.  29. 


196        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

I  assume,  of  course,  that  the  mental  organism 
which  presides  over  the  sympathetic  nervous  system 
and  organizes  and  controls  its  forces,  is  the  subjec- 
tive mind,  although  the  dominion  of  that  mental  or- 
ganism is  by  no  means  limited  to  the  visible  domain 
of  that  congeries  of  nerve  ganglia  known  to  empiri- 
cal anatomy  as  the  sympathetic  nervous  system.  It 
necessarily  presides  over  all  the  silent  forces  or  in- 
voluntary activities  of  the  whole  physical  organism; 
otherwise  the  latter  could  not  act  as  a  unit.  Be- 
sides, the  facts  of  psychology  teach  us  that  the  sub- 
jective mind  can  under  certain  conditions,  not  yet 
very  clearly  defined,  invade  the  domain  and  usurp 
the  functions  of  the  cerebro-spinal  system.  This 
may  be  brought  about  experimentally,  as  in  hypno- 
tism, or  trance,  induced  or  spontaneous;  or  it  may 
occur  in  response  to  necessity,  as  when  the  body  is 
in  imminent  and  deadly  peril.1  In  such  an  emer- 
gency the  objective  mind  functions  too  slowly,  and 
the  nerve  responses  are  correspondingly  sluggish; 
and  hence  the  subjective  mind,  ever  alert  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  body,  instantaneously  inhibits  all  brain 
mentation,  seizes  upon  its  mechanism  of  motion,  and 
wields  it  with  inconceivable  rapidity  and  precision, 
often  snatching  the  body  from  the  very  jaws  of  death. 
The  difference  in  the  action  of  the  two  minds  in  such 
cases  is  the  difference  between  reason  and  instinct 
or  intuition.  The  one  requires  time  for  delibera- 
tion, with  its  accompanying  doubt  and  hesitancy; 
the  other  is  instantaneous  in  mentation  and  appro- 
priate action.  Hypnotism,  in  this  sense,  is  merely 

1  For  a  full  discussion  of  this  topic,  see  "The  Law  of  Psychic 
Phenomena." 


THE  PHYSICAL   MECHANISM  197 

a  method  of  inducing  the  subjective  mind  to  inhibit 
the  action  of  the  brain,  to  the  end  that  certain  of 
its  functions  may  be  usurped  by  the  subjective  mind. 
When  the  inhibition  is  accomplished,  "  automatism," 
e.  g.,  automatic  writing,  etc.,  is  rendered  possible,  — 
which  is  but  another  way  of  saying  that  the  mental 
organism  which  normally  presides  over  the  sympa- 
thetic nervous  system,  has  assumed  temporary  con- 
trol of  the  cerebro-spinal  system. 

This  constitutes  one  of  the  points  of  radical  dif- 
ference between  the  powers  and  limitations  of  the 
two  minds :  the  subjective  mind  may,  and  does  on 
occasion,  control  every  nerve  and  muscle  in  the 
physical  organism,  voluntary  and  involuntary;  but 
the  objective  mind  cannot  directly  control  one  purely 
involuntary  muscle. 

The  far-reaching  significance  of  this  one  fact  can- 
not be  dwelt  upon  here;  but  I  cannot  refrain  from 
remarking,  en  passant,  that  it  constitutes  indubitable 
evidence  that  the  subjective  mind  is  the  primary 
intelligence  of  organic  life;  the  corollary  of  which 
is  that  the  objective  mind,  with  its  organs,  is  the 
product  of  organic  evolution.  I  make  this  remark 
for  the  reason  that  some  scientists  have  labored  to 
prove  that  the  sympathetic  nervous  system  is  a 
subordinate  offshoot  of  the  cerebro-spinal  system. 
I  have  incidentally  pointed  out  this  fallacy  else- 
where *  in  discussing  the  facts  of  organic  and  mental 
evolution,  the  sum  of  which  demonstrates  that  the 
subjective  mind  antedated  the  objective,  or  brain  in- 
telligence, by  untold  millions  of  years.  That  there 
is  a  nerve  connection  between  the  two  nervous  sys- 

1  See  "  The  Divine  Pedigree  of  Man." 


198        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL   MEDICINE 

terns  is  necessarily  true;  that  they  are  intimately 
correlated  is  well  known  and  admitted  by  those  who 
most  strongly  assert  the  essential  independence  of 
the  sympathetic.  Experimental  psychology  teaches 
us  that  there  exists  a  nexus  between  the  two  minds, 
enabling  them,  under  certain  conditions,  to  act  in 
perfect  synchronism.  The  same  reason  exists  for 
an  intimate  interrelation  between  the  two  nervous 
systems.  But  as  the  subjective  mind  often  asserts 
its  independence  of  the  objective,  so  are  the  essential 
functions  of  the  sympathetic  ganglia  independent  of 
control  by  the  cerebral  centre.  They  may  be  modified 
by  indirection,  as  by  suggestion,  but  the  essential 
vital  processes  go  on  independently  of  objective  will 
or  desire.  In  other  words,  the  life  forces,  which  are 
presided  over  by  the  subjective  mind,  acting  through 
the  sympathetic  nervous  system,  persist  independently 
of  the  will  or  volition  of  the  objective  mind  acting 
through  the  cerebro-spinal  nervous  system.  As  be- 
fore remarked,  it  is  only  by  indirection  that  the  latter 
can  modify  the  action  of  the  sympathetic  nervous 
organism;  and  this  is  where  the  law  of  suggestion 
presents  itself  as  a  therapeutic  agent.  The  nerve 
connections  between  the  two  nervous  systems  enable 
the  objective  mind  to  communicate  its  therapeutic 
suggestions  to  the  subjective  mind.  The  latter,  ever 
ready  to  adopt  whatever  measures  promise  to  pre- 
serve health  and  prolong  life,  communicates  the 
necessary  therapeutic  impulses,  through  the  nerves, 
to  the  cell  intelligences  which  are  involved  in  the 
disease,  stimulating  them  to  increased  activity,  or 
the  reverse,  as  occasion  requires,  —  in  a  word,  re- 
establishing normal  metabolism  in  the  diseased  cells. 


THE  PHYSICAL   MECHANISM  199 

In  this  connection  it  must  be  remarked  that  the 
latest,  most  intelligent,  and  most  comprehensive 
theory  of  disease  is  that  a  disease  of  the  body  is  a 
disease  of  the  cells  of  the  body.  The  great  German 
physician,  Rudolf  Virchow,  recently  deceased,  has 
established  this  proposition  beyond  all  perad venture.1 
Indeed  it  is,  obviously  and  necessarily,  the  only 
theory  of  disease  that  is  all-inclusive  in  its  terms, 
and,  in  fact,  self-evident.  Its  correlative  is  that  the 
only  effective  therapeutic  agents  are  those  that  reach 
the  diseased  cells  and  are  capable  of  restoring  them 
to  normal  activity.  This  is  necessarily  true  whether 
the  remedies  are  material  or  mental.  It  follows  that 
the  best  remedies  are  those  which  reach  the  diseased 
locality  by  the  most  direct  route  and  are  invested 
with  the  necessary  therapeutic  potency,  that  is,  the 
power  to  stimulate  the  diseased  cells  to  normal 
activity. 

I  submit  that  I  have  shown  one  potent  therapeutic 
agent,  and  exhibited  the  mechanism  through  which 
it  operates;  and  I  have  shown  the  route  over  which 
its  forces  travel  to  reach  the  humblest  cell  in  the 
physical  organism.  It  is  a  mental  power  or  energy; 
it  transmits  its  mandates  through  lines  composed  of 
mind  organisms;  and  the  humblest  beneficiaries  of  hX 
its  prepotent  energy  are  all  mind  organisms,  —  in-  r 
telligent  entities,  capable  of  responding  to  every 
impulse  from  the  central  intelligence.  I  have  also 
shown  a  bodily  mechanism  which  renders  the  dual 
mind  hypothesis  a  biological  as  well  as  a  psycho- 
logical necessity  to  any  rational  theory  of  causation. 
It  remains  to  point  out  the  specific  structure  of  the 

1  Cellular  Pathology. 


200  THE  LA  W  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

nerves,  considered  as  the  instruments  by  which  thera- 
peutic impulses  are  transmitted  and  pain  inhibited. 

In  doing  so,  it  will  first  be  necessary  to  refer  again 
to  unicellular  organisms.  In  the  amoeboid  forms  of 
life  —  the  ciliates,  rhizopods,  flagellates,  and  others 
—  we  find  that  the  living  cell,  when  leading  an  inde- 
pendent existence,  has  the  power  to  throw  out  from 
its  protoplasmic  substance  projections  (pseudopodia) 
and  filaments.  The  very  lowest  animal  organisms, 
e.  g.,  the  monera,  throw  out  pseudopodia  as  a  means 
of  locomotion,  and  in  the  more  highly  developed 
protozoans  these  projections  assume  a  more  or  less 
permanent  character,  as  cilia  and  flagella.  It  is  by 
means  of  these  projections  that  unicellular  creatures 
take  cognizance  of  their  environment,  seize  their 
food,  and  communicate  with  each  other.  These  fila- 
ments are  themselves  capable  of  feeling  and  moving 
in  response  to  it,  and  are  therefore  composed  of 
living  matter. 

Now,  this  power  of  projecting  living  filaments  is 
one  of  the  salient  characteristics  of  the  histological 
cells  which  constitute  the  vital  units  of  all  multi- 
cellular  animal  organisms.  As  in  unicellular  life, 
they  are  projected  and  retracted  in  pursuance  of 
some  want  or  emotion,  and  constitute  the  means 
of  communication  with  neighboring  cells.  It  is,  in 
fact,  the  only  means  by  which  a  sentient  tissue  re- 
sults from  their  union.  Moreover,  it  is  by  this  means 
of  intercommunication  with  each  other  that  the  mil- 
lions of  cells  composing  the  body  can  exist  as  an 
individual  animal,  exhibit  personality,  and  live,  move, 
and  have  their  being  as  one  individual  entity. 

Now,  as  each  cell  in  the  confederation  is  differ- 


THE  PHYSICAL  MECHANISM  2OI 

entiated  with  especial  reference  to  its  functions,  it 
follows  that  the  nerve  cells  are  more  highly  special- 
ized as  carriers  of  intelligence  than  any  others.  Hence 
we  find  that  the  filaments  are  more  distinctly  in  evi- 
dence in  the  nerve  cells  than  in  others,  in  that  they 
have  apparently  assumed  a  more  or  less  permanent 
character,  —  that  is  to  say,  under  the  now  generally 
accepted  theory  that  these  filaments  are  the  sub- 
stratum of  the  nerve  system.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it 
is  certain  that  the  nerve  cells  project  these  living  ten- 
tacles from  cell  to  cell,  and  that  "  in  no  tissue  is  this 
living  connection  so  complete  as  in  nerve  tissue,  and 
the  gray  cerebral  tissue  "  (Stephens). 

It  is  important,  for  more  reasons  than  one,  that  we 
should  here  pause  for  a  moment  to  consider  this 
phenomenon  in  connection  with  the  gray  tissue  of 
the  cerebral  cortex.  No  one  needs  to  be  told  that 
the  brain  is  the  organ  of  the  objective  mind  and  the 
centre  of  the  cerebro-spinal  nervous  system ;  or  that 
the  group  of  highly  differentiated  cells  which  con- 
stitutes the  organ  of  intellect  is  located  in  the  cortex, 
or  outer  surface  layer  or  layers  of  the  brain.  The 
universally  accepted  theory  is  that  the  brain  cells  of 
the  cerebral  cortex  constitute  the  storehouse  of  ob- 
jective memory.  Every  cell,  therefore,  corresponds 
to  some  experience  or  thought  of  the  individual ;  that 
is  to  say,  for  each  new  thought  or  experience  of  the 
individual,  a  new  brain  cell  is  developed  or  an  old 
one  modified.  This  theory  is  confirmed  by  the  fact 
that  the  more  highly  men  or  the  higher  animals  are 
cultivated  intellectually,  the  more  numerous  are  the 
convolutions  of  the  brain  and  the  deeper  are  the  fis- 
sures, thus  enlarging  the  cortical  area  and  providing 


202         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

room  for  the  constantly  augmenting  number  of  cells 
during  the  active  or  progressive  life  of  the  individual. 

Now,  each  one  of  these  cells  is  in  either  actual  or 
potential  communication  with  every  other  cell  in  the 
cortex,  by  means  of  filaments  of  living  protoplasmic 
matter  akin  to  those  already  described  as  pertaining 
to  the  humbler  cells  of  the  bodily  organism.  They 
differ  in  degree  of  differentiation,  but  not  in  func- 
tion. That  is  to  say,  these  filamentary  projections 
from  cell  to  cell  constitute  the  means  of  communi- 
cating intelligence  from  cell  to  cell,  whether  they  are 
the  cells  of  the  cerebral  cortex,  or  the  nerve  cells  of 
the  body,  or  the  humbler  tissue  or  bone  cells  of  the 
outlying  frontiers  of  the  physical  organism. 

I  make  these  remarks  here  for  two  reasons:  first, 
because  materialistic  scientists  have  racked  their  brains 
with  an  energy  out  of  all  proportion  to  results  in  an 
effort  to  solve  the  problem  as  to  how  sensation  is 
communicated  from  cell  to  cell  along  these  filamen- 
tary projections,  whether  by  chemism,  wave-motion, 
electro-motive  energy,  or  by  currents  of  particles  of 
the  cells  themselves;  and  secondly,  because  I  wish 
to  make  it  clear  to  the  reader  that  in  dealing  with 
man  we  are  dealing  with  an  intelligent  entity  whose 
whole  physical  organism  is  composed  of  intelligent 
entities  —  mind  organisms  —  each  one  of  which  is 
endowed  with  intelligence  proportioned  to  its  place 
and  function. 

It  is,  therefore,  superfluous  to  postulate  any  form 
of  energy  but  mental  energy,  to  account  for  the 
transmission  of  sensation  from  one  cell  to  another. 
That  is  to  say,  it  is  obviously  done  by  the  trans- 
mission of  intelligence  from  cell  to  cell  by  means  of 


THE  PHYSICAL   MECHANISM  203 

filaments  projected  from  one  cell  until  it  comes  in 
contact  with  its  neighbor, — just  as  ants  communicate 
messages  to  each  other,  and  lay  plans  of  co-operative 
action,  by  touching  each  other  with  their  antennae. 
Indeed,  as  we  shall  see  in  its  proper  place  in  this 
book,  the  communication  of  intelligence  by  means  of 
physical  contact  is  one  of  the  most  common  of  psy- 
chological phenomena.  In  the  meantime  I  desire  the 
reader  to  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  communica- 
tion of  intelligence  by  means  of  physical  contact  is 
the  prime  factor  of  sentient  life;  for,  I  repeat  it,  it 
is  the  one  means  of  intercommunication  between  cell 
and  cell  that  enables  the  vast  congeries  of  sentient 
organisms  to  live,  move,  and  have  their  being  as 
one, 

Besides,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  all  the  cells 
of  the  human  organism  are  descended  from  a  single 
cell,  the  human  egg-cell,  which,  "  as  soon  as  it  is 
fertilized,  multiplies  by  division  and  forms  a  com- 
munity, or  colony  of  many  social  cells.  These  dif- 
ferentiate themselves,  and  by  their  specialization,  by 
various  modifications  of  these  cells,  the  various  tis- 
sues which  compose  the  various  organs  are  developed. 
The  developed  many-celled  organisms  of  man  and  of 
all  higher  animals  resemble,  therefore,  a  social,  civil 
community,  the  numerous  single  individuals  of  which 
are,  indeed,  developed  in  various  ways,  but  were  orig- 
inally only  simple  cells  of  one  common  structure."  l 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that,  according  to  one  of  the 
highest  living  authorities,  not  only  is  every  cell  in 
the  body  descended  from  a  single  parent  cell,  but 
that  all  were  originally,  that  is,  before  differentiation 

1  Haeckel,  The  Evolution  of  Man,  vol.  i.  p.  147. 


204        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

began,  "  only  simple  cells  of  one  common  structure." 
It  follows  that  the  essential  characteristics  and  powers 
remain  the  same  in  all,  differing  only  in  degree.  Now, 
the  essential  characteristic  of  the  cell  is  that  it  is  a 
mind  organism;  and  one  of  its  essential  powers  is 
that  of  communicating  with  its  fellow  cells  by  means 
of  the  filaments  we  have  described.  The  only  ques- 
tion, therefore,  is,  Is  the  impulse  thus  communicated 
from  cell  to  cell  a  purely  mental,  intelligent  impulse, 
or  is  it  some  form  of  energy  known  to  material 
science  as  "  wave-motion,"  "  chemism,"  or  "  electro- 
motive energy  "  ?  This  question  is  easily  settled  by 
showing  that  the  cells  of  one  group  do  communicate 
intelligence  to  each  other.  If  this  can  be  shown,  it 
follows  that  all  cells  having  a  common  origin,  origi- 
nally identical  in  structure,  and  possessing  the  same 
structural  facilities  for  communicating  intelligence, 
do  the  same  thing  in  the  same  way. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  the  brain  cells 
furnish  the  necessary  example.  They  have  the  same 
origin,  and  were  originally  of  "  one  common  struc- 
ture "  with  all  the  other  cells  of  the  organism.  Dif- 
ferentiation did  not  change  their  essential  nature  as 
mind  organisms.  It  only  modified  their  morphologi- 
cal structure  to  adapt  them  to  the  performance  of  the 
work  assigned  to  them,  and  it  endowed  each  with  the 
intelligence  requisite  to  the  performance  of  its  special 
work.  In  the  distribution  of  assignments  the  brain 
cells  were  exalted  to  a  position  of  regal  supremacy 
and  endowed  with  psychic  powers  commensurate 
with  their  station.  But  they  are  no  more  perfectly 
adapted  to  the  performance  of  their  special  functions 
than  are  the  others  to  theirs.  Each  is  endowed  with 


THE  PHYSICAL   MECHANISM 


205 


special  powers,  suitable  and  entirely  adequate  to  the 
performance  of  its  special  duties;  all  are  endowed 
with  the  instinct  of  self-preservation;  each,  in  its 
own  sphere  of  activity,  is  endowed  with  an  intuitive 
knowledge  of  how  to  adapt  means  to  ends  in  the 
conservation  of  life  and  in  the  repair  of  traumatic 
injuries;  and  all  are  subject  to  the  volition  of  that 
central  intelligence  which,  with  never-sleeping  vigi- 
lance, guards  and  guides  the  whole. 


THE  MECHANISM   OF   INHIBITION 

Analgesia  Induced  by  Hypnotism  or  by  Suggestion.  —  If  Sensation  is 
transmitted  by  Means  of  Physical  Contact  of  the  Filaments  of  the 
Nerve  Cells,  it  follows  that  Interruption  of  Contact  will  inhibit 
Sensation.  —  These  Filaments  are  retractile.  —  The  Subjective 
Mind,  by  causing  their  Retraction,  can  inhibit  Sensation.  —  The 
Phenomenon  of  Analgesia  in  the  Presence  of  Death  or  Deadly 
Peril.  —  Catalepsy.  —  The  Theory  of  Mental  Medicine  compre- 
hended in  the  Words  "  Stimulation  "  and  "  Inhibition."  —  The 
Effects  of  Material  Medicines  mainly  limited  to  these  Two.  —  The 
Principle  of  Homoeopathy.  —  Necessity  for  the  Correlation  of  Psy- 
chology and  Histology  in  the  Study  of  Therapeutics. 

ONE  of  the  most  wonderful  of  the  phenomena 
with  which  experimental  psychology  has  to 
deal  is  that  of  the  inhibition  of  physical  sensation  or 
of  pain.  Everybody  has  witnessed  it  in  others  or 
experienced  it  himself,  for  it  is  also  a  very  common 
phenomenon.  It  can  be  produced  experimentally,  as 
when  suggestion  is  employed  as  an  analgesic  in  sur- 
gery. It  happens  spontaneously  when  one's  limb  is 
temporarily  benumbed  by  a  severe  injury.  It  is  in 
evidence  when  a  raging  toothache  suddenly  ceases 
in  presence  of  the  dentist  armed  with  his  instruments 
of  torture.  It  never  fails  to  manifest  itself  when  one 
is  threatened  with  sudden  death  by  violence,  as  in  the 
heat  of  a  deadly  conflict.  The  soldier  rarely  knows 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  INHIBITION        2O/ 

he  is  wounded  so  long  as  he  is  able  to  continue  fight- 
ing.    Often  the  first  notification  he  has  that  he  is 
wounded  is  when  he  falls,  weakened  by  the  loss  of  , 
blood;   and  if  his  wound  is  fatal,  he  dies  a  painless 
death. 

Few  have  failed  to  experience  the  phenomenon  in 
some  form;  the  most  common  being  cases  of  tem- 
porary numbness  resulting  from  wounds,  and  the 
local  anaesthesia  or  analgesia  which  almost  invari- 
ably immediately  precedes  a  surgical  operation, — the 
phenomenon  of  the  subsident  toothache  being  typical. 
By  far  the  most  numerous  class  of  cases,  however, 
occur  in  the  practice  of  mental  healing,  especially 
where  the  treatment  involves  the  personal  contact 
of  the  healer  with  the  patient;  for  example,  in  mes- 
meric methods,  or  the  laying  on  of  hands,  or  in  some 
forms  of  hypnotic  practice.  It  is  possible,  however, 
to  inhibit  pain  by  pure  suggestion  without  personal 
contact,  as  has  been  demonstrated  again  and  again 
under  all  so-called  "  systems  "  of  practice  in  mental 
therapeutics.  The  correlation  of  all  the  facts  of  all 
methods  has  thus  far  given  us  the  psychological  for- 
mula which  we  have  examined  in  Part  I.  of  this  book ; 
that  is  to  say,  it  has  taught  us  that  the  subjective 
mind  is  endowed  with  the  power,  when  it  is  incited 
thereto  by  suggestion,  to  inhibit  pain.  This  is  un- 
doubtedly correct  as  far  as  it  goes.  But  it  does  not 
go  far  enough  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  present 
inquiry,  —  which  is  as  to  the  histological  mechanism 
involved  in  the  inhibition  of  pain,  and  incidentally 
as  to  some  cognate  questions  collateral  to  the  main 
subject  of  inquiry. 

The  intelligent  student  will  have  already  antici- 


208         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

pated  me  when  I  say  that  we  must  look  to  the  nerve 
mechanism  through  which  sensations  are  transmitted 
from  cell  to  cell,  to  find  the  means  by  which  the  same 
sensations  are  inhibited.  Thus,  we  have  found  that 
sensations  and  intelligence  are  transmitted  from  one 
cell  to  its  neighbor  through  filaments  of  living  proto- 
plasmic matter  projected  from  one  cell  into  physical 
contact  with  the  other ;  that,  in  a  nerve,  this  filamen- 
tary connection  is  made  from  cell  to  cell  throughout 
its  whole  length.  It  is,  therefore,  solely  by  means  of 
physical  contact  of  one  nerve  cell  with  another  that 
sensations  are  communicated  through  the  nerves. 

It  follows  that  if  one  of  the  cells  in  a  line  of  com- 
munication should  withdraw  its  tentacles  from  con- 
tact with  its  neighbors,  the  line  would  be  broken,  and 
sensation  would  be  inhibited  with  just  as  much  cer- 
tainty as  if  the  nerve  had  been  severed  by  the  scalpel. 
That  these  filaments  can  be  retracted  is  well  known 
to  every  histologist,  for  they  are  a  part  of  the  living 
protoplasm  of  the  cell  itself. 

That  each  cell  of  the  whole  organism  is  under  the 
control  of  the  central  intelligence  which  presides  over 
the  vital  processes,  is  necessarily  true.  Psychology 
teaches  us  that  this  central  intelligence,  which  we 
designate  as  the  subjective  mind,  "  has  control  of 
the  functions,  sensations,  and  conditions  of  the  body." 
Necessarily,  therefore,  it  has  control  over  each  indi- 
vidual cell  that  constitutes  a  factor  in  the  functional 
activities  of  the  body;  and  since  the  nerves  consti- 
tute the  means  of  communicating  intelligence  and 
sensation  to  all  the  outlying  cells  of  the  organism,  it 
follows  that  the  nerve  cells  are  under  the  more  im- 
mediate control  of  the  subjective  mind  than  are  the 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  INHIBITION         209 

outlying  cells.  Manifestly,  therefore,  the  subjective 
mind  may,  by  an  act  of  volition,  cause  every  cell 
concerned  in  the  transmission  of  sensation  to  retract 
its  tentacles  or  filaments  and  thus  temporarily  isolate 
itself  from  all  intercourse  with  its  fellows.  Obvi- 
ously, therefore,  this  is  the  method  and  this  the 
mechanism  employed  in  the  inhibition  of  pain. 

Under  this  hypothesis  much  that  is  mysterious  in 
the  phenomena  of  inhibition  may  easily  be  accounted 
for.  Thus,  the  general  anaesthesia,  or,  rather,  anal- 
gesia, incident  to  imminent  and  deadly  peril,  must 
be  due  to  a  general  retraction  by  the  cells  of  the  fila- 
ments employed  in  the  transmission  of  sensation. 
Indeed,  this  phenomenon  and  that  of  death  may  be 
correlated.  The  fact  that  death  is  always  painless 
may  be  due  to  the  same  cause,  the  psychological 
crises  in  the  two  cases  being  identical.  It  is  the  in- 
evitability of  death,  real  or  apparent,  that  induces 
the  phenomenon;  and  it  seems  to  be  the  universal 
experience  of  those  whose  doom  is  sealed.  Thus, 
the  criminal  condemned  to  death  experiences  it  the 
moment  when  all  hope  of  pardon  or  reprieve  has 
been  abandoned.  "  His  faculties  are  benumbed," 
testify  his  attendants,  he  becomes  "  calm  and  indif- 
ferent," and  when  the  supreme  moment  arrives,  he 
marches  to  the  scaffold  without  a  tremor  to  indicate 
that  he  is  possessed  of  a  nervous  organism. 

Closely  allied  to  this  is  the  local  anaesthesia  in- 
duced by  the  near  approach  to  an  inevitable  surgical 
operation.  This  subject  has  already  been  alluded 
to,  and  need  not  be  dwelt  upon  further  than  to 
remark  that  the  imminence  and  inevitability  of  a 
great  crisis  seem  to  be  the  prime  factors  in  the  induc- 

14 


210          THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

tion  of  the  phenomenon;  and  this  fact  is  sufficient 
to  indicate  its  potential  value  as  an  analgesic  in 
surgery. 

There  are  some  reasons  for  believing  that  the  cells 
themselves,  under  great  stress  of  emotional  excite- 
ment, have  the  power  of  initiative  in  the  matter  of 
inhibiting  local  pain.  Thus,  in  cases  of  casual 
wounds,  the  parts  are  benumbed  for  the  time  being; 
and  if  the  wound  is  immediately  dressed,  no  pain 
is  experienced  in  the  adjacent  parts.  Later,  how- 
ever, the  pain  is  experienced  in  full  measure.  This 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  cells  adjacent  to  the 
injured  parts,  under  stress  of  some  emotional  excite- 
ment, —  let  us  say,  fear  or  fright,1  —  withdraw  their 
tentacles  and  "  retire  within  themselves,"  much  as 
some  insects  do  when  death  threatens.  After  the 
stress  of  emotion  has  had  time  to  subside,  they  re- 
sume their  normal  activities,  and  pain  ensues.  But 
they  find  that  thousands  of  their  fellows  have  been 
slain ;  and  this  entails  unwonted  duties  upon  the  sur- 
vivors in  the  way  of  eliminating  the  dead  protoplasm 
and  generating  new  cells  to  take  its  place.  In  other 
words,  the  process  of  healing  must  be  carried  on  by 
the  surviving  cells,  facilitated,  perhaps,  by  antiseptic 

1  In  reference  to  the  possibility  of  inducing  the  emotion  of  fear  or 
fright  in  micro-organisms,  M.  Binet,in  his  preface  to  the  "American  edi- 
tion of  his  great  work  on  "The  Psychic  Life  of  Micro-organisms,"  has 
this  to  say  :  "  M.  Romanes,  in  his  zoological  scale,  assigns  the  first  mani- 
festations of  surprise  and  fear  to  the  larvae  of  insects  and  to  the  An- 
nelids. We  may  reply  upon  this  point,  that  there  is  not  a  single  ciliate 
Infusory  that  cannot  be  frightened,  and  that  does  not  manifest  its  fear 
by  a  rapid  flight  through  the  liquid  of  the  preparation.  If  a  drop  of 
acetic  acid  be  introduced  beneath  the  glass-slide,  !n  a  preparation  con- 
taining quantities  of  Infusoria,  the  latter  will  at  once  be  seen  to  flee  in 
all  directions  like  a  flock  of  frightened  sheep."  , . . , 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  INHIBITION         211 

conditions  provided  by  the  attending  surgeon;  and 
this  increased  activity  necessarily  increases  the  sen- 
sibility of  the  parts  involved. 

Catalepsy  is  another  form  of  inhibitory  phenomena 
which  cannot  be  ignored  in  this  connection.  It  was 
formerly  thought  to  be  a  disease;  but  the  better 
opinion  now  seems  to  be  that  it  is  a  supreme  effort 
of  nature  to  give  the  nerves  a  much  needed  rest. 
This  view  is  fortified  by  the  fact  that  it  accompanies 
severe  nervous  diseases,  such  as  hysteria ;  and  by  the 
further  fact  that,  if  let  alone  and  not  harassed  by  the 
administration  of  restoratives,  the  patient  rapidly  re- 
cuperates during  its  continuance,  and  is  convalescent 
when  normal  conditions  are  restored.  It  can  be  arti- 
ficially induced  by  hypnotism,  including  the  charac- 
teristic muscular  rigidity ;  and  the  universal  testimony 
of  subjects  who  have  been  experimented  upon  is  that 
the  experience,  short  as  it  usually  is  in  experimental 
cases,  is  equivalent  to  a  refreshing  sleep.  It  is,  in 
fact,  one  of  the  most  wonderful  examples  of  the 
power  of  the  subjective  mind  to  inhibit  functional 
activity;  for  the  inhibition  extends  alike  to  brain, 
muscles,  and  nerves,  and,  in  short,  all  the  vital  organs. 
In  fact,  there  have  been  cases  in  which  the  suspen- 
sion of  the  vital  processes  was  so  complete  that  it 
simulated  death  so  closely  as  to  answer  all  the  or- 
dinary tests;  and  doubtless  many  have  been  buried 
alive  while  enjoying  the  recuperative  rest  which  na- 
ture provides,  in  emergent  cases,  for  the  overwrought 
nervous  organism.  One  was  made  the  subject  of 
an  autopsy,  with  most  indecent  haste,  in  the  hope 
of  wresting  from  his  brain  the  secret  of  certain  psy- 
chic powers  that  had  made  him  famous  in  two  hemi- 


212         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

spheres.  An  open  letter  was  in  his  pocket,  addressed 
to  the  medical  profession,  stating  that  he  was  subject 
to  cataleptic  seizures,  simulating  death. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  unprotected  cataleptic 
is  in  danger  alike  from  ignorance  and  from  science. 
Ignorance  is  prone  to  bury  him  alive;  and  science 
hastens  to  saw  his  head  open  in  search  of  the  secrets 
of  the  soul. 

This  may  seem  like  a  digression,  but  the  impor- 
tance of  the  subject  of  catalepsy  must  plead  my 
excuse.  I  have  treated  the  subject  more  at  length 
elsewhere,1  showing  the  danger  involved,  not  in  the 
phenomenon  itself,  but  in  the  fact  that  it  has  been 
treated  as  a  nervous  disease,  often  fatal,  instead  of 
regarding  it  in  its  true  light,  —  that  of  a  purely 
psychological  phenomenon.  I  cannot  repeat  my  ob- 
servations here,  without  undue  repetition,  further 
than  to  remark  that  the  fatal  cases  are  due  either  to 
premature  burial  or  an  autopsy.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  phe- 
nomenal manifestation  of  vis  conservatrix  nature,2 
about  which  so  much  is  said  and  so  little  intelligently 
utilized  in  therapeutic  practice.  It  is,  as  before  re- 
marked, the  result  of  a  supreme  effort  of  nature,  in 
cases  of  emergency,  to  give  the  whole  organism  a 
period  of  rest  and  consequent  recuperation.  In  a 
word,  it  is  a  striking  example  illustrating  the  won- 
derful inhibitory  powers  of  the  subjective  mind.  In 
the  next  chapter  I  shall  attempt  to  correlate  its  facts 
with  the  phenomena  of  natural  sleep  and  others  of  a 
cognate  character. 

In  the  meantime  I  have  briefly,  though  I  believe 

1  See  "  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena." 
*  The  preserving  power  of  nature. 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  INHIBITION         213 

with  sufficient  particularity  for  present  purposes, 
pointed  out  the  physical  mechanism  and  the  process 
by  means  of  which  those  inhibitory  powers  are  ex- 
ercised. And  I  may  here  remark  that,  in  this  and 
the  preceding  chapters,  I  have  shown  all  the  mech- 
anism required  for  a  complete  working  apparatus  for 
mental  healing;  for  the  formula  expressive  of  the 
work  to  be  done  in  healing  is  as  simple  as  that  of 
the  theory  of  disease.  "  A  disease  of  the  body  is  a 
disease  of  the  cells  of  the  body,"  says  Virchow ;  and 
it  rises  to  the  dignity  of  a  universal  postulate  when 
it  is  remembered  that  the  body  is  composed  entirely 
of  cells.  In  like  manner  the  theory  of  mental  medi- 
cine may  be  comprehended  in  two  words,  namely, 
"  stimulation  "  and  "  inhibition ;  "  that  is  to  say,  all 
that  it  is  conceivably  possible  for  mental  energy  to 
accomplish,  when  operating  therapeutically  upon  a 
congeries  of  mind  organisms  under  its  control,  is  to 
stimulate  the  sluggish  cells  to  normal  activity  and 
inhibit  the  abnormal  activity  of  the  others.  Mani- 
festly this  is  all  that  can  be  done  by  mental  energy; 
but  just  as  obviously  this  is  all  that  needs  to  be  done, 
for  it  means  the  restoration  of  normal  conditions  to 
the  diseased  cells. 

Can  medicines  do  more?  Clearly  not.  The  real 
question,  however,  of  interest  and  importance  in 
this  connection  is,  Can  material  remedies  effect  the 
same  results  independently  of  any  aid  from  psychical 
forces?  I  think  not. 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood  on  this  point.  I  am 
not  one  of  that  numerous  class  of  extremists  who, 
having  learned  something  of  the  potency  of  sugges- 
tion as  a  factor  in  therapeutics,  are  instant  and  in- 


214         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

sistent  in  the  declaration  that  the  therapeutic  value 
of  all  remedies  is  due  to  suggestion,  pure  and  simple. 
Having  learned,  for  instance,  that  the  placebo  *  is 
wonderfully  effective  in  some  cases,  —  many,  per- 
haps, —  the  extremists  jump  to  the  conclusion  that 
all  material  remedies  must  be  classed  with  the 
placebo,  the  therapeutic  efficacy  of  which  is,  of 
course,  due  wholly  to  suggestion. 

I  am  fully  aware  of  the  potency  of  suggestion  as 
a  therapeutic  agent.  I  am  also  aware  that  there  are 
many  cases  in  which  some  form  of  larvated  sugges- 
tion is  necessary  in  order  to  inspire  confidence  or 
overcome  prejudice.  Indeed,  I  know  some  physi- 
cians of  high  standing  in  the  profession  who  never 
administer  anything  in  the  form  of  medicine  except 
the  placebo,  accompanied  by  a  vigorous  suggestion 
as  to  the  expected  results,  firmly  believing  that  the 
therapeutic  value  of  all  medicines  is  due  wholly  to 
suggestion. 

Nevertheless,  there  are  medicines  that  are  effica- 
cious in  healing  disease  when  suggestion  as  a  factor 
in  the  case  seems  to  have  been  eliminated.  I  have  in 
mind  two  classes  of  cases  which  will  serve  as  exam- 

Jples ;  there  may  be  more,  —  I  do  not  know. 
The  first  is  where  the  medicine  contains  the  specific 
pabulum,  chemical  or  nutrient,  adapted  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  cells  involved.  Cells  may  be  starved 
into  inanition,  and  disease  may  result.  It  follows  that 
normal  conditions  may  be  restored  by  feeding  them. 
Indeed,  starvation  of  the  body  is  the  starvation  of 
the  cells  of  the  body ;  and  nourishment  is  the  remedy, 

1  Any  harmless  substance  given  to  pacify  the  patient,  such  as  bread 
pills,  patent  medicines,  etc. 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  INHIBITION         21$ 

whether  it  is  taken  in  the  form  of  medicine  under  the 
directions  of  a  physician  or  in  the  form  of  a  "  square 
meal  "  prescribed  by  the  cook. 

The  other  class  of  medicines  to  which  I  refer  pro- 
duce their  results  by  indirection;  that  is  to  say,  they 
have  no  therapeutic  efficacy  in  themselves,  but  they 
serve  their  purpose  by  arousing  in  the  cells  the  in- 
stinct of  self-preservation,  thus  stimulating  them  to 
intense  activity  in  an  effort  to  eliminate  the  "  medi- 
cine "  from  the  system.  This,  of  course,  necessarily 
involves  the  use  of  poisonous  drugs.  Startling  as 
this  proposition  may  seem  at  first  glance,  it  appears 
to  be  sustained  by  well-known  facts.  No  one  needs 
to  be  told  that,  when  poison  is  taken  into  the  system, 
"  nature "  makes  a  supreme  effort  to  eliminate  it, 
"  throw  it  off."  No  histologist  needs  to  be  told 
that  "  nature,"  in  such  cases,  is  represented  by  the 
cells  of  the  body.  They  do  the  work,  sometimes 
successfully  and  sometimes  not,  —  success,  of  course, 
depending  upon  the  amount  of  work  they  have  to  do 
as  proportioned  to  the  energy  they  possess.  If  the 
amount  of  poison  is  great,  the  labor  required  to 
eliminate  it  is  proportionately  great,  and  they  may 
perish  before  accomplishing  their  task;  and  even  if 
successful,  they  may  find  themselves  exhausted  by 
their  efforts  and  unable  to  perform  their  normal 
functions,  at  least  for  the  time  being.  But  if  the 
amount  of  the  poison  is  small,  they  may  succeed  in 
eliminating  it,  and  still  have  a  reserve  force  left 
sufficient  for  normal  uses.  The  difference  between 
the  two  cases  is  the  difference  between  a  fatal  case 
of  poisoning  and  one  that  is  not.  Obviously,  in 
either  case  the  cells  were  stimulated  to  unwonted 


2l6         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL   MEDICINE 

activity  by  the  presence  of  imminent  danger  to  life; 
in  other  words,  they  were  incited  to  activity  by  the 
instinct  of  self-preservation. 

I  should  hesitate  to  apply  these  observations  to 
any  system  of  drug  medication,  did  not  the  facts 
stand  out  so  conspicuously  that  they  cannot  be 
ignored.  Let  us  examine  a  few  of  them: 

Hahnemann,  the  great  founder  of  the  homoeo- 
pathic system  of  medicine,  builded  better  than  he 
knew  when  he  announced  the  discovery  of  that 
"law"  or  principle  of  medicine  which  he  embalmed 
in  the  terse  Latin  phrase,  Similia  similibus  curantur, 
—  vulgarly  translated,  "  Like  cures  like."  The  real 
meaning  is  that  any  drug  which,  when  administered 
in  large  doses  to  a  person  in  health,  will  produce  a 
given  symptom,  will  cure  the  same  symptom  in  a 
diseased  person  when  administered  in  small  doses. 
Nobody  has  ever  been  able  quite  satisfactorily  to 
explain  how  it  is  possible  that  a  small  dose  of  any 
poison  can  have  exactly  the  opposite  effect  of  a  large 
dose;  but  all  opposition,  in  Hahnemann's  case,  was 
confounded,  if  not  silenced,  by  the  wonderful  success 
which  attended  the  application  of  the  supposed  law 
to  actual  practice.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark 
that  this  is  not  the  only  modern  instance  in  which  suc- 
cess in  healing  disease  has  been  held  to  "demonstrate" 
the  correctness  of  a  theory  of  therapeutical  causation ; 
nor  is  it  necessary  to  repeat  my  observations  regard- 
ing the  logical  value  of  such  a  supposition. 

The  fact  remains  that  Hahnemann  was  eminently 
successful  in  curing  disease,  and  his  following  has 
assumed  colossal  proportions,  in  spite  of  the  ridicule 
heaped  upon  the  system  on  account  of  the  infinites!- 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  INHIBITION         21  / 

mal  doses  prescribed.  This  is  the  vulnerable  point 
against  which  its  enemies  have  hurled  their  most 
effective  weapons,  whether  of  logic  or  of  ridicule; 
and  many  of  Hahnemann's  professed  followers  now 
repudiate  the  higher  attenuations  which  he  pre- 
scribed. This,  in  my  view  of  the  matter,  is  an  error 
on  their  part,  in  some  cases  at  least,  as  will  appear 
later.  Others  have  repudiated  his  doctrine  that 
medicine  should  be  administered  solely  with  refer- 
ence to  symptoms,  holding  that  the  seat  and  pathol- 
ogy of  each  case  should  be  studied  and  medicine 
administered  that  will  affect  the  organ  diseased.  In 
this  they  are  undoubtedly  correct.  Others,  again, 
repudiate  Hahnemann's  fundamental  doctrine  that 
his  one  so-called  law  of  Similia  covers  all  cases. 
Dr.  Kidd,  of  London,  holds  that  there  are  two  laws 
governing  the  subject-matter,  namely,  Similia  simi- 
libus  and  Contraria  contrariis.1 

Without  stopping  to  examine  these  two  alleged 
laws  in  detail,  it  must  suffice  to  say  that  the  declara- 
tion that  it  requires  two  laws  to  transform  virulent 
poisons  into  beneficent  therapeutic  agencies  is  the 
logical  equivalent  of  saying  that  neither  of  them  is 
a  law,  and  that  we  must  look  further  for  the  true  ex- 
plication of  the  phenomena.  Nature's  laws  do  not  con- 
tradict each  other,  nor  are  they  uselessly  multiplied, 
although  it  might  well  be  supposed  that  it  would 
require  the  concurrent  potency  of  half-a-dozen  of 
them  to  convert  a  deadly  poison  into  a  medicine  in 
the  common  acceptation  of  the  term,  —  that  is,  a 
substance  possessing  in  itself  a  healing  potency. 

It  is  obvious  that  in  casting  about  for  a  hypothesis 

1  See  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  art.  "  Homoeopathy." 


218         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

capable  of  explaining  the  therapeutic  effect  of  poison- 
ous substances,  we  cannot  safely  postulate  direct  and 
positive  medicinal  properties  to  deadly  poisons,  be 
the  doses  large  or  small.  The  chemical  constituents 
of  poisons  are  not  changed  by  mechanical  division. 
But  I  think  we  may  safely  assume,  under  the  hypoth- 
esis suggested  in  the  opening  of  this  discussion,  that 
the  most  virulent  poisons  may  have  an  indirect  ther- 
apeutic effect  when  administered  in  infinitesimal 
quantities. 

Allow  me  to  repeat.  Poisons  necessarily  stimulate 
the  cells  with  which  they  come  in  contact;  that  is 
to  say,  the  cells  are  energized  by  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation,  and  they  make  a  supreme  effort  to 
eliminate  the  poison  from  the  organism.  If  the 
quantity  is  too  great,  the  cells  are  either  paralyzed 
or  killed.  If  the  amount  of  poison  is  small,  the  same 
instinctive  energy  is  nevertheless  aroused,  and  the 
same  effort  is  made  to  get  rid  of  the  poison.  If  the 
amount  is  small  enough,  they  succeed  in  eliminating 
it,  and  have  a  wide  margin  of  reserve  energy  left  for 
normal  uses. 

It  follows  that  the  smaller  the  amount  of  poison 
they  have  to  contend  with,  the  greater  the  amount 
of  energy  remaining  in  the  cells.  Hence  the  alleged 
superior  efficacy  of  the  high  dilutions.  If  Hahne- 
mann  demonstrated  anything  in  reference  to  his 
system,  it  was  this,  and  he  constantly  insisted  upon 
it  as  long  as  he  lived;  and  the  few  that  remain  of 
his  faithful  followers  all  insist  that  the  higher  atten- 
uations are  the  more  efficacious.  And  it  must  neces- 
sarily be  true  if  my  hypothesis  is  correct.  But  if 
Similia  similibus  is  postulated,  the  question  will  ever 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  INHIBITION        2ig 

arise  to  plague  its  advocates,  When,  in  the  process 
of  mechanical  division,  does  poison  cease  to  be  poison, 
its  chemical  properties  remaining  constant  ?  In  other 
words,  when,  in  the  process  of  braying  it  in  a  mortar, 
does  a  poison  which  is  destructive  of  organic  tissue 
become  a  nutritive  pabulum  for  the  nourishment  and 
regeneration  of  the  living  elements  of  organic  tissues  ? 
The  question  answers  itself,  for  everybody  knows 
that  the  mechanical  division  of  chemical  substances 
does  not  change  their  nature.  A  teaspoonful  of  salt 
dissolved  in  a  hogshead  of  pure  water  can  be  recov- 
ered again,  as  salt,  without  loss  in  weight  or  modi- 
fication of  properties. 

It  seems  clear,  therefore,  that  a  valid  working 
hypothesis  explanatory  of  the  therapeutic  effect  of 
poisons  must  take  into  account  the  fact  that  me- 
chanical division  does  not  change  the  nature  of 
chemical  compounds,  and  that  a  poison  is  still  a 
poison,  however  minutely  it  may  be  divided.  When 
these  facts  are  taken  into  consideration,  the  con- 
clusion necessarily  follows  that  the  therapeutic 
effects  of  poisons  are  secondary,  that  is,  produced 
by  indirection. 

I  submit  that  the  theory  I  have  suggested  embraces 
all  the  elements  of  a  valid  and  useful  working  hypoth- 
esis; for  it  accounts  for  all  the  phenomena  relating 
to  the  therapeutical  efficacy  of  virulent  poisons,  and 
it  does  not  require  the  postulation  of  a  manifest 
absurdity.  Moreover,  it  is  based  upon  the  known 
facts  of  histology  and  experimental  psychology.  The 
former  reveals  the  cellular  structure  of  the  body,  and 
forces  the  conclusion  that  all  diseases  of  the  body  are 
diseases  of  the  cells  of  the  body.  The  latter  reveals 


220        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

the  psychology  of  the  micro-organisms  of  which  the 
whole  physical  structure  is  composed,  and  takes  into 
account  that  wonderful,  sleepless  intelligence  which 
guards  and  directs  the  whole.  It  is  safe  to  assume 
that  if  Hahnemann  had  been  in  possession  of  the 
facts  revealed  by  these  two  sciences,  the  theory  of 
Similia  similibus  curantur  would  not  have  been  heard 
of  through  him ;  for  it  would  have  been  then,  as  it  is 
now,  an  unnecessary  hypothesis.  As  it  was,  the  facts 
seemed  to  sustain  him,  and  he  was  justified  in 
announcing  his  discovery  and  fighting  his  battles  to 
the  end.  In  other  words,  his  practice  was  purely 
empirical,  although  he  thought  he  had  discovered  a 
universal  law  of  medicine.  Nevertheless,  it  was  a 
great  step  in  the  evolution  of  medical  science;  and 
he  is  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of  mankind  for  that 
he  has  taught  the  medical  profession  the  folly  of 
administering  medicines  in  heroic  doses. 

I  have  referred  exclusively  to  homoeopathy  in  this 
connection  for  the  reason  that  that  school  furnishes 
the  most  numerous  examples  demonstrative  of  the 
fact  that,  for  some  reason  and  in  some  way,  the  most 
virulent  poisons  have  a  therapeutic  value.  Doubtless 
many,  if  not  all,  medicines,  except  those  that  fur- 
nish to  the  cells  some  form  of  nutriment,  operate  on 
the  same  principle.  Take,  for  example,  the  old-school 
method  of  treating  a  torpid  liver  by  mercurial  rem- 
edies. Who  can  doubt  that  mercury  is  a  poison 
which,  for  some  unknown  reason,  naturally  gravitates 
toward  the  liver;  or  that  the  hepatic  cells  make 
strenuous  efforts  to  eliminate  it,  stimulated  thereto 
by  the  instinct  of 'self-preservation?  That  it  is  a 
poison  to  be  gotten  rid  of,  is  tacitly  admitted  by  the 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  INHIBITION         221 

physician,  who  invariably  orders  a  saline  cathartic 
for  that  very  purpose.  Mercurial  treatment  of  the 
liver  is  also  illustrative  of  the  change  in  practice, 
by  physicians  of  the  old  school,  in  the  matter  of 
dosage.  Thirty  years  ago,  ten  to  twenty  grains  of 
blue-mass  was  not  considered  excessive  in  cases  of 
torpidity  of  the  liver.  To-day  the  same  physicians 
prescribe  calomel  in  one-tenth  grain  doses,  or  even 
smaller;  and  experience  teaches  that  the  modern 
practice  is  the  best.  This  also  illustrates  the  main 
point  of  my  contention;  for  the  old-style  doses  of 
blue-mass  would  prostrate  the  average  patient  for 
at  least  twenty-four  hours,  whereas  the  modern  dose, 
while  it  is  equally  effective,  is  not  followed  by  the 
old-style  aftermath.  The  reasons  may  be  restated: 
The  effort  required  to  eliminate  a  large  dose  exhausts 
the  cells,  and  time  is  required  for  recuperation  before 
normal  conditions  are  restored;  whereas  the  small 
dose  is  equally  effective  in  stimulating  the  cells  to 
action,  but  the  energy  expended  in  removing  the 
poison  is  so  small  that  the  cells  have  a  reserve  force 
left  sufficient  for  normal  uses. 

I  have  introduced  this  subject,  not  for  the  purpose 
of  exploiting  a  new  and  universal  theory  of  medicine, 
for  I  disclaim  an  object  so  ambitious;  but  because 
I  wish  to  make  it  clear  to  the  reader  (i)  that  there 
is  a  psychic  factor  in  all  healing  agencies,  mental  or 
material;  (2)  that  this  factor  is  not  confined  to  sug- 
gestion in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term;  (3)  that 
no  system  of  healing,  mental  or  material,  can  be 
hypothetically  valid  or  complete  that  fails  to  take 
cognizance  of  all  the  psychic  factors;  and  (4)  that 
no  system,  mental  or  material,  can  be  adequately 


222         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

comprehended  without  some  knowledge  of  the  his- 
tological  structure  of  the  physical  organism. 

The  first  three  points  have  been  sufficiently  dis- 
cussed for  my  present  purpose,  which  is  merely  to 
suggest  a  method  of  investigation,  rather  than  to 
exploit  a  scientific  dogma.  In  reference  to  the  fourth 
point,  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that,  since  Virchow's 
cellular  theory  of  disease  is  now  universally  accepted, 
it  follows  that  therapeutics,  as  well  as  pathology, 
must  be  studied  histologically.  And  it  would  be  like 
the  proverbial  play  of  "  '  The  Prince  of  Denmark ' 
with  the  part  of  Hamlet  left  out,"  to  ignore  the  psy- 
chological powers,  attributes,  and  functions  of  the 
cells  themselves;  for  each  one  is,  first  of  all,  a  mind 
organism,  and  it  is  differentiated  psychologically  as 
well  as  physically,  with  special  reference  to  the  place 
it  occupies  and  the  functions  it  performs  in  the  grand 
confederation.  It  is  an  axiom  of  biological  science 
that  there  can  be  no  life  without  mind.  In  fact,  there 
is  no  distinction  between  life  and  mind  that  is  not, 
in  the  last  analysis,  merely  verbal. 

The  cell  is  the  unit  of  animal  life.  It  is  an  intelli- 
gent entity.  It  is  moved  by  mental  impulses.  It  is 
actuated  by  mental  stimuli,  and  undue  action  is 
inhibited  by  the  same  energy.  The  microscope 
reveals  all  this,  and  it  exhibits  the  structural  lines  of 
communication  between  cell  and  cell  and  between  the 
central,  controlling  intelligence  and  each  particular 
cell.  It  follows  that  a  system  of  therapeutics  that 
ignores  the  psychology  of  the  cell  fails  to  take  into 
consideration  the  prime  factor  of  life  and  vitality, 
and  is  the  equivalent  of  ignoring  the  existence  of 
the  cell  itself. 


THE  MECHANISM  OF  INHIBITION         223 

Indeed,  the  psychology  of  the  cell  furnishes  a  com- 
mon field  of  observation  for  all  the  schools  of  thera- 
peutics, mental  and  material,  and  none  can  safely 
ignore  the  lessons  that  it  teaches.  If  I  were  to  assume 
the  role  of  a  prophet,  I  should  predict  that  in  that 
field  will  eventually  be  found  the  means  of  harmo- 
nizing all  the  schools;  for  it  is  obvious  that  it  is 
only  by  the  correlation  of  the  facts  of  psychology 
with  those  of  physiology  and  histology  that  the  truth 
can  be  approximated.  If  any  one  of  the  sciences 
could  be  safely  ignored,  it  certainly  could  not  be 
psychology;  for  man  is,  first,  last,  and  all  the  time, 
a  psychological  being,  whose  every  fibre  is  made  up 
of  living  entities,  each  one  of  which  is  endowed 
with  psychological  powers,  performs  psychological 
functions,  and  is  controlled  by  psychological  energy. 

Is  it  not  all  but  self-evident  that  it  is  because 
cellular  psychology  has  been  ignored  by  the  medical 
profession,  as  a  factor  in  pathology  and  therapeutics, 
that  the  healing  art  is  one  of  pure  empiricism  ? 


CHAPTER   V 

INHIBITION   AND    SLEEP,   NATURAL  AND 
INDUCED 

The  Various  Hypotheses  advanced  to  account  for  the  Phenomenon  of 
Sleep.  —  The  Power  of  Inhibition  possessed  by  the  Subjective  Mind 
an  Adequate  Explication.  —  The  Powers  of  Stimulation  and  In- 
hibition correlative. — The  Alternation  of  Work  and  Rest  a  Law 
which  pertains  to  all  the  Cells  of  the  Body.  —  The  Isolation  of  the 
Brain  Cells  from  Contact  with  Each  Other  the  Cause  of  Uncon- 
sciousness. —  A  Universal  Law  of  Inhibition  comprehended  in  the 
Formula  "Segregation  of  Cells."  —  Natural  and  Induced  Sleep 
identical.  —  Hypnotism  but  a  Concomitant  of  the  Power  to  induce 
Natural  Sleep. 

I   NOW  resume  the  discussion  of  the  phenomena 
of  inhibition,  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the 
question,  Does  not  this  subjective  power  of  inhibition 
afford  a  valid  explanation  of  the  mysterious  phe- 
nomena of  sleep,  natural  and  induced  ? 

Much  has  been  written  on  the  subject  of  cerebral 
anatomy  and  histology,  and  scientists  are  in  practical 
accord  as  to  the  general  structure  of  the  brain  and 
the  functions  it  performs  during  waking  hours.  All 
are  agreed  that  sleep  is  a  condition  of  rest  of  the 
nervous  system,  during  which  there  is  a  renewal  of 
the  energy  that  has  been  expended  during  the  hours 
of  wakefulness,  and  that  sleep  is  promoted  by  fatigue 
of  the  nervous  system.  But  no  two  of  them  agree 


INHIBITION  AND  SLEEP  22$ 

as  to  what  changes  take  place  in  the  organism  that 
produce  the  state  of  unconsciousness.  Numerous 
hypotheses  have  been  advanced  to  account  for  the 
phenomenon,  but  none  have  thus  far  proved  to  be 
in  accord  with  all  the  facts  in  the  case.  Thus,  it 
has  been  held  by  some  that  sleep  is  caused  by  cerebral 
congestion ;  that  is,  that  the  blood  vessels  of  the  brain 
are  charged  during  sleep  with  an  unusual  amount  of 
blood.  Others  have  no  difficulty  in  proving  that 
during  sleep  the  brain  is  in  a  comparatively  bloodless 
condition,  and  that  the  blood  in  the  encephalic  vessels 
is  not  only  diminished  in  quantity,  but  moves  with 
diminished  rapidity  (Durham).  The  conclusion  was 
that  increase  of  blood  pressure  tends  to  produce  wake- 
fulness,  and  decrease  induces  sleep.  On  the  other 
hand,  Mosso  has  shown  that  the  amount  of  blood 
in  the  brain  during  sleep  is  constantly  fluctuating 
from  natural  causes  and  environmental  conditions, 
and  that  it  may  be  experimentally  increased  and  de- 
creased, within  wide  limits,  without  awakening  the 
sleeper.  Preyer  held  that  it  was  due  to  the  accumu- 
lation in  the  nerve  centres,  as  a  result  of  fatigue,  of 
sarcolactic  acid;  but  later  experiments  have  demon- 
strated the  incorrectness  of  the  hypothesis.  Pfliiger 
labored  to  prove  that  a  deficiency  in  the  supply  of 
oxygen  to  the- brain  was  the  cause  of  sleep;  to  which 
Professor  McKendrick  replied  that  such  a  theory 
implies  that  cerebral  activity  depends  upon  cerebral 
respiration,  and  that  sleep  must  therefore  be  a  kind 
of  "  cerebral  asphyxia."  1 

In  fact  many  other  theories  are  extant,  some  of 

1  See  article  by  Professor  McKendrick,  in  "  Encyclopaedia  Britan- 
nica,"  on  "  Sleep." 


226         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

which  postulate  pathological  conditions  of  the  brain 
and  nervous  system  to  account  for  the  phenomenon  of 
unconsciousness.  But  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  hy- 
pothesis has  yet  been  advanced  that  is  sufficiently 
comprehensive  to  account  for  all  the  facts ;  and  hence 
the  present  attitude  of  science  is  that  of  suspended 
judgment,  awaiting  further  investigation. 

The  question,  then,  recurs,  Does  not  the  inhibitory 
power  inherent  in  the  subjective  mind  furnish  a  valid 
explanation  of  the  phenomenon  under  consideration? 
It  seems  to  me  that  the  question  answers  itself  in 
view  of  what  we  have  already  seen  of  the  inhibitory 
potency  of  that  intelligent,  sleepless  energy  which 
presides  over  all  the  vital  functions  of  the  whole 
organism. 

It  would  be  a  work  of  supererogation  to  repeat 
what  has  already  been  said  relating  to  the  inhibitory 
powers  of  the  subjective  mind,  and  the  visible  mech- 
anism through  which  it  operates,  beyond  reminding 
the  reader  that  — 

The  subjective  mind  presides  over  all  involuntary 
muscles,  functions,  and  processes  of  the  whole  organ- 
ism. Hence  its  power  necessarily  extends  to  every 
cell  in  the  body;  and,  to  be  effective,  it  must  include 
the  power  to  restrain  abnormal  activity  as  well  as 
the  power  to  stimulate  and  promote  normal  function- 
ing. They  are  correlative  powers,  and  the  existence 
of  one  necessarily  implies  the  existence  of  the  other, 
just  as  much  as  the  power  of  an  engineer  to  open 
the  throttle-valve  of  a  locomotive  implies  the  power 
to  close  it.  Obviously,  in  either  case,  the  exercise 
of  one  power  in  the  absence  of  the  other  would  end 
in  disaster  to  the  machine. 


INHIBITION  AND  SLEEP  227 

The  fact  is,  if  we  can  once  succeed  in  divesting 
our  minds  of  all  ideas  of  possible  abnormal  condi- 
tions precedent  to  sleep,  and  our  imaginations  of  the 
glamour  of  mystery,  romance,  and  superstition  with 
which  poets  and  other  dreamers  have  invested  it,  we 
shall  have  no  difficulty  in  correlating  its  phenomena 
with  others  not  so  mysterious,  or,  rather,  not  so 
conspicuously  in  evidence  in  their  manifestations.  To 
that  end  we  must  begin  by  keeping  separate,  in  our 
investigations,  the  psychological  functions  of  the 
waking  brain  cells  and  their  physiological  functions 
when  considered  as  a  part  of  the  physical  structure. 
We  shall  then  no  longer  be  awed  by  the  phenomenon 
of  insensibility,  nor  wrought  upon  by  the  idea  of 
a  mind  blotted  out,  nor  harassed  by  the  thought  that 
sleep  is  the  "  twin-brother,"  or  even  the  half-brother, 
of  death.  On  the  contrary,  we  shall  find  that  the 
phenomenon  called  sleep  is  merely  incidental  to  the 
operation  of  a  universal  psychological  law  \vhich 
pertains  alike  to  all  the  cells  of  the  body.  That  law 
is  that,  under  normal  conditions,  rest  must  always 
alternate  with  work  in  all  vital  processes  and  phe- 
nomena, otherwise  speedy  exhaustion  and  death 
necessarily  follow.  This  is  true  of  all  the  cells,  as 
before  remarked.  Even  the  pulsating  heart,  appar- 
ently working  without  intermission,  is  in  reality  not 
doing  so,  as  there  are  short  intervals  of  relaxation 
between  individual  beats  in  which  there  is  no  ex- 
penditure of  energy.1  The  same  is  true  of  the  other 
nerve  centres,  the  continuous  functioning  of  which 
is  essential  to  life,  —  for  example,  respiration  and 
the  distribution  of  blood.  Aside  from  these,  all  the 

i  Op.  cit. 


228        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

other  nerve  centres  and  their  component  cells  enjoy 
comparatively  long  intervals  of  rest.  And  this  is 
true,  presumably,  without  reference  to  their  waking 
functions.  I  say  presumably,  because  the  logical 
presumption  is  that  all  the  cells  which  enjoy  alternate 
periods  of  rest  and  work  are  governed  by  the  same 
law.  Besides,  it  is  an  inexorable  rule  of  scientific 
induction  that  we  must  never  needlessly  multiply 
causes.  I  submit  that  there  is  neither  a  logical,  a 
psychological,  nor  a  physiological  necessity  for  two 
hypotheses  to  account  for  the  same  phenomenon,  — 
one  for  brain  cells  and  another  for  other  cells.  The 
object  of  inhibition  is  the  same  in  all  cases,  namely, 
rest;  and  the  mechanism  is  the  same,  the  difference 
being  one  of  degree.  That  is  to  say,  the  brain  cells 
are  the  more  abundantly  provided  with  filamentary 
lines  of  intercommunication.  But  their  functions  are 
identical  with  those  belonging  to  the  humblest  cell 
in  the  physical  organism ;  that  is,  they  are  the  instru- 
mentalities for  the  transmission  of  intelligence  and 
sensation  from  cell  to  cell,  thus  enabling  the  whole 
to  act  as  one.  It  follows  that  the  process  of  inhi- 
bition is  the  same. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  retraction  of  these 
filamentary  lines  of  intercommunication  results  in  the 
isolation  of  the  cells  and  the  consequent  induction  of 
anaesthesia.  In  other  words,  the  functions  of  the  cells 
are  for  the  time  being  suspended;  they  no  longer 
convey  intelligence  or  sensation  to  their  fellows,  and 
they  are  therefore,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  asleep, 
—  unconscious.  I  submit  that  if  this  is  true  of  any 
one  group  of  cells  in  the  organism,  it  is  true  of  the 
brain  cells. 


INHIBITION  AND  SLEEP  229 

To  the  long-mooted  question,  therefore,  What  are 
the  specific  changes  in  the  organism  that  produce  the 
state  of  unconsciousness  ?  my  tentative  reply  is,  It  is 
the  isolation  of  the  brain  cells  from  physical  contact 
with  each  other. 

Let  us  examine  this  question  a  little  further  with 
special  reference  to  the  brain  cells,  their  functions, 
and  their  filamentary  connections. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  cells  of  the  cerebral 
cortex  are  the  depositories  of  memories,  and  that  they 
are  connected  with  each  other  by  filaments  similar  in 
kind,  and  presumably  in  purpose,  to  those  which  con- 
nect the  other  cells  of  the  body  with  their  neighbors, 
or  coadjutors  in  functional  activity.  Roughly  speak- 
ing, we  may  say,  by  way  of  illustration,  that  each 
cell  is  the  storehouse  of  a  memory  of  an  experience, 
or,  let  us  say,  of  a  fact,  that  may  in  due  time  be  used 
in  connection  with  other  associated  facts  for  purposes 
of  induction.  But  before  kindred  facts  or  memories 
can  be  brought  into  actual  association,  a  connection 
must  be  established  between  the  various  cells  which 
contain  them;  and  this  is  the  office  performed  by 
the  filamentary  lines  of  communication  already  de- 
scribed. These  filamentary  lines  may  be  termed  the 
instruments  of  mental  association;  and  they  account 
for  "  the  tendency  of  a  sensation,  perception,  feeling, 
volition,  or  thought  to  recall  to  consciousness  others 
which  have  previously  existed  in  consciousness  with 
it  or  with  states  similar  to  it."  *  In  a  word,  the 
brain  cells  and  their  lines  of  communication  with  each 
other  constitute  the  physical  mechanism  of  induction, 
of  correlation,  or  of  association  of  ideas ;  the  tendency 
in  an  active  brain  being  for  each  cell  to  establish 

1  Century  Dictionary. 


230        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

immediate  connection  with  new  and  kindred  ideas 
and  to  refunction  on  lines  already  established.  In 
other  words,  these  lines  of  communication  constitute 
the  mechanism  which  enables  the  brain  cells  to  act 
as  a  unit,  precisely  as  the  filamentary  connections 
between  the  cells  of  the  body  enable  them  to  act  in 
harmony,  and  live,  move,  and  have  their  being  as  one. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  when  the  connections 
between  the  cells  of  the  body  are  operative,  intelli- 
gence and  sensation  are  communicable;  but  when 
from  any  cause  they  are  withdrawn,  all  sensation  is 
inhibited,  anaesthesia  results,  —  local  or  general,  as 
the  case  may  be,  —  and  we  say  that  the  body  is 
insensible.  The  cells  are  at  rest.  In  like  manner, 
when  the  connections  between  the  brain  cells  are 
intact,  the  process  of  mentation  goes  on;  memory 
combinations  are  made  and  crystallized  into  ideas, 
and  we  say  the  brain  is  active,  —  the  mind  is  con- 
scious, —  the  man  is  awake.  But  when  the  cells  are 
exhausted,  and  a  period  of  rest  and  recuperation  is 
required,  the  connections  between  the  cells  are  with- 
drawn, and  the  brain,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  is 
resolved  into  its  constituent  elements.  It  is  then 
simply  a  mass  of  unicellular  organisms  for  the  time 
being,  —  an  aggregation  and  not  an  organization,  — 
and,  as  such,  it  is  just  as  incapable  of  thinking,  or  of 
an  interchange  of  sensations,  as  would  be  an  equal 
bulk  of  protozoans  dredged  from  the  bottom  of  the 
ocean.  The  cells  are  at  rest ;  the  brain  is  asleep,  — 
unconscious. 

I  submit  that  this  hypothesis,  crudely  and  imper- 
fectly as  it  is  stated,  affords  a  complete  explanation 
of  all  the  facts  pertaining  to  the  phenomena  of  sleep. 
I  have  not  space  in  this  outline  to  dwell  upon  the 


INHIBITION  AND  SLEEP  231 

particulars  of  the  various  phases  of  the  phenomena, 
but  the  intelligent  reader  will  supply  the  deficiency. 
In  the  meantime  I  have  but  to  remark  that  it  seems 
to  indicate  the  existence  of  a  universal  law  of  inhi- 
bition, —  a  law  which  enables  the  subjective  mind  to 
meet  all  emergencies  as  they  arise,  in  sickness,  in 
health,  in  deadly  peril,  and  in  death.  That  is  to  say,  it 
enables  it  to  inhibit  pain  in  surgery  or  in  sickness; 
it  enables  it  in  health  to  give  all  the  cells  of  the  body 
the  necessary  periods  of  rest  and  recuperation;  it 
enables  it  to  take  entire  possession  of  the  body  when 
imminent  danger  threatens;  and  finally,  it  enables  it 
to  afford  complete  immunity  from  suffering  in  the 
hour  of  final  dissolution. 

The  most  wonderful  part  of  it  all  is  the  simplicity 
of  the  process  and  of  the  physical  mechanism  by 
which  all  these  things  are  accomplished.  It  may  all 
be  comprehended  in  the  simple  formula,  Segregation 
of  cells.  It  is  this,  together  with  the  wide  range  of 
its  usefulness,  that  stamps  it  as  a.  law  and  attests 
its  universality. 

It  will  now  be  obvious  to  the  intelligent  student  of 
experimental  psychology  that  this  hypothesis  affords 
an  explanation  of  much  that  is  mysterious  in  the 
phenomena  of  hypnotism.  Students  of  my  earlier 
works  will  remember  that,  following  Bernheim  and 
Liebault,  I  stated  that  "  there  is  nothing  to  differ- 
entiate hypnotic  sleep  from  natural  sleep,"  J  and  gave 
many  reasons  for  entertaining  that  opinion.  They 
need  not  be  repeated  here,  for  they  all  pertain  to 
phenomena  occurring  subsequently  to  the  induction  of 
sleep.  In  the  years  that  have  elapsed  since  the  ex- 
pression of  that  view  I  have  never  seen  any  reason 

1  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena,  pp.  179  et  seq. 


232        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

to  change  it,  although  it  has  frequently  been  contro- 
verted by  those  possessing  only  a  superficial  knowl- 
edge of  the  subject.  It  is  now  apparent  that  Liebault, 
whom  Professor  Bernheim  credits  with  being  the 
first  to  proclaim  the  doctrine,  builded  better  than  he 
knew;  for  if  my  theory  of  sleep  is  correct,  natural 
and  induced  sleep  are  identical.  That  is  to  say,  the 
same  subjective  energy  that  induces  sleep  in  one  case 
induces  it  in  the  other,  —  by  the  same  process,  and 
by  the  aid  of  the  same  histological  mechanism. 

No  one  now  pretends  to  deny  the  fact  that  the 
sleep  of  hypnotism  is  induced  by  the  subjective  mind, 
acting  in  obedience  to  the  suggestions  of  the  operator ; 
and  everybody  knows  that  the  state  is  brought  about 
by  inhibiting  the  activity  of  the  brain  cells.  That  the 
subjective  mind  is  charged  with  the  induction  of 
natural  sleep  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  insomnia 
is  often  cured  by  suggestion.  It  possesses  the  power, 
therefore,  and  as  it  is  charged  with  the  responsibility 
for  the  well-being  of  the  whole  vital  organism,  no 
good  reason  can  be  seen  for  making  an  exception  of 
that  which  is  most  imperatively  necessary  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  organism,  —  the  rest  and  recuperation 
of  the  brain  cells. 

It  will  now  be  seen  that  if  this  hypothesis  is  correct, 
or  approximately  correct,  both  natural  and  induced 
sleep  are  robbed  of  their  mystery.  Natural  sleep  is 
seen  to  be  nature's  method  of  securing  the  necessary 
intervals  of  bodily  rest  and  recuperation;  and  the 
power  to  induce  and  regulate  it  necessarily  inheres 
in  that  sleepless  energy  which  controls,  subject  al- 
ways to  the  law  of  suggestion,  all  the  other  physical 
functions  and  conditions. 

And  hypnotism,  or  the  power  to  induce  sleep,  is 


INHIBITION  AND  SLEEP  233 

seen  to  be,  not  a  thing  apart,  not  anything  exceptional, 
—  not  a  mysterious  power,  resident  somewhere,  for 
some  occult  purpose,  and  capable  only  of  inducing 
abnormal  conditions  of  body  and  mind,  —  but  a  con- 
comitant of  the  pozver  to  induce  natural  sleep.  It  is 
governed  by  the  same  laws  and  restricted  by  the  same 
limitations,  and  the  same  physical  mechanism  is  em- 
ployed in  the  same  way  to  induce  it;  that  is  to  say, 
it  is  brought  about  by  isolating  the  brain  cells  from 
physical  contact  with  each  other,  just  as  in  natural 
sleep.  In  either  case  the  different  stages  of  sleep 
are  due  to  their  more  or  less  complete  isolation; 
and  the  variant  phenomena  in  different  cases,  and  at 
different  times  in  the  same  subject,  are  due  to  the 
variant  degrees  of  isolation  in  different  departments 
of  the  cerebral  cortex.  This  is  a  subject,  however, 
which  cannot  be  entered  upon  at  this  time ;  for  it  is 
believed  that  the  intelligent  student  of  hypnotism  will 
have  no  difficulty,  under  this  hypothesis,  in  solving 
the  various  minor  problems  as  they  arise.  In  the 
meantime  my  sole  object  has  been  to  point  out  an 
efficient  cause  for  the  phenomenon  of  induced  sleep 
and  to  correlate  it  with  other  similar  states  and  con- 
ditions, with  the  view  of  showing  that  hypnotism  is 
but  one  of  the  numerous  phenomenal  manifestations 
of  that  inhibitory  energy  which  constitutes  the  con- 
servative power  of  the  vital  organism.  In  a  word, 
hypnotism  is  a  subsidiary  phase  of  the  phenomenal 
manifestations  of  that  energy.  It  is  merely  incidental 
to  it,  and  not  "  a  law  unto  itself." 


CHAPTER   VI 

ANIMAL  MAGNETISM,  HYPNOTISM,  AND   LAYING 
ON   OF   HANDS 

The  Immediate  Cause  of  Natural,  Hypnotic,  and  Mesmeric  Sleep  the 
Same.  —  The  Process  and  Theory  of  Mesmerism.  —  Braid's  Ex- 
periments. —  The  Process  of  Hypnotism.  —  The  Confusion  in 
Terms  and  Methods.  —  Liebault's  Formulation  of  the  Law  of  Sug- 
gestion. —  Suggestion  regarded  as  a  Universal  Solvent  of  the 
Mysteries  of  Hypnotism  and  Mesmerism.  —  The  Effects  of  Hypno- 
tism and  Mesmerism  due  to  Different  Proximate  Causes.  —  Physi- 
cal Contact  the  Essential  Feature  which  distinguishes  Mesmeric 
from  Hypnotic  Practice.  —  The  Psycho-Histological  Theory. — 
Historical  Sketch  of  "  Healing  by  Touch."  —  The  Effects  of  this 
Process  not  accounted  for  by  Suggestion  in  the  Ordinary  Sense  of 
that  Term. 

ALL  that  has  been  said  in  reference  to  the  cause 
of  sleep,  whether  natural  or  induced  by  the 
processes  of  hypnotism,  applies  with  equal  pertinency 
to  that  induced  by  the  processes  of  mesmerism  or 
so-called  animal  magnetism.  The  obvious  reason  is 
that  the  immediate  or  efficient  cause  of  sleep  is  the 
same  in  all  cases,  whatever  may  have  been  the  visible 
means  of  inducing  the  histological  conditions  that 
cause  or  constitute  sleep. 

The  parallel  between  hypnotism  proper  and  animal 
magnetism,  so  called,  practically  ends  here.  Owing, 
however,  to  a  defective  terminology  that  has  grown 
out  of  conflicting  theories  of  causation,  the  distinc- 


ANIMAL  MAGNETISM,  HYPNOTISM,   ETC.     235 

tion  between  mesmerism  and  hypnotism  has  been 
lost  sight  of  by  many  writers. 

The  practice  growing  out  of  this  confusion  of 
terms  has  also  served  to  obliterate  distinctions,  so 
that  many  who  call  themselves  hypnotists  in  reality 
employ  mesmeric  methods  in  whole  or  in  part,  and 
vice  versa. 

It  will  first  be  necessary,  therefore,  to  give  the 
reader  a  clear  understanding  of  what  I  regard  as 
the  true  line  of  distinction,  to  the  end  that  I  may 
not  be  misunderstood  when  I  undertake  to  make  a 
practical  application  of  the  facts  we  have  learned  in 
previous  chapters  to  the  subject  before  us. 

"Mesmerism"  and  "animal  magnetism"  are  terms 
that  are  frequently  used  interchangeably,  because  they 
represent  the  same  theory  of  causation.  Hypnotism 
represents  another,  and  a  radically  different,  theory 
of  causation;  but  both  stand  for  methods  of  induc- 
ing sleep  for  experimental  or  therapeutical  purposes. 
The  differences,  of  course,  are  in  the  theories  and 
in  the  practice  under  them. 

The  mesmerists,  or  animal  magnetists,  induce 
sleep  by  processes  varying  in  detail,  but  consisting 
essentially  of  coming  into  personal  contact  with  the 
subject,  and  concentrating  the  mind  upon  the  work 
in  hand.  Contact  is  made,  sometimes  by  the  operator 
pressing  the  balls  of  his  thumbs  against  those  of  the 
patient ;  sometimes  by  making  passes  over  him,  with 
or  without  contact  with  his  person;  but  generally 
by  gently  touching  him  at  various  points,  particu- 
larly on  the  head  and  face;  and  often  by  merely 
laying  one  hand  upon  the  forehead  of  the  subject 
and  the  other  at  the  base  of  his  brain.  For  the 


236         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

relief  of  local  pain  the  hand  is  pressed  upon  the  part 
affected,  or  gentle  contact-passes  are  made  over  the 
same.  But  whatever  the  details  may  be,  in  the 
process  of  manipulation,  the  essentials  are  personal 
contact  and  concentration  of  mind. 

The  theory  of  Mesmer  and  his  followers  is  that  a 
health-giving  fluid  emanates  from  the  operator  and 
impinges  upon  the  patient  at  whatever  point  the  con- 
tact is  made.  This  hypothetical  fluid  is  the  "  animal 
magnetism  "  of  which  we  hear  so  much  and  know 
so  little.  It  is  supposed,  however,  to  be  charged, 
not  only  with  health  and  vitality  in  a  concrete  form, 
but  to  invest  its  possessor  with  dominion  over  his 
fellows  in  love,  war,  politics,  religion,  and  commerce. 
At  least  so  say  the  current  advertisements  of  those 
who  have  it  for  sale  in  the  form  of  "  lessons  "  at  so 
much  per  lesson. 

To  do  the  early  mesmerists  entire  justice,  they  did 
not  claim  for  the  hypothetical  fluid  the  wide  range 
of  power  and  usefulness  that  is  now  claimed  by  the 
charlatans  into  whose  hands  it  has  fallen.  But  their 
ideas  were  sufficiently  extravagant  to  make  it  the 
vulnerable  point  in  mesmerism;  at  least  it  was  the 
point  which  science,  as  represented  by  the  medical 
profession  of  the  day,  attacked  with  hysterical  in- 
sistence, not  to  say,  insensate  virulence.  It  was  the 
weak  point  in  the  armor  of  mesmerism,  because  it 
could  not  be  demonstrated,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  fluid 
could  not  be  segregated,  bottled,  and  analyzed.  The 
therapeutic  efficacy  of  the  practice,  however,  could 
be  demonstrated;  but  that  fact  apparently  served 
but  to  increase  the  virulence  of  the  attacks  upon  the 
fluidic  theory.  This  view  of  the  matter,  however, 


ANIMAL  MAGNETISM,  HYPNOTISM,  ETC.     237 

can  only  be  sustained  by  the  presupposition  that  the 
average  physician  is  violently  prejudiced  against  any 
theory  or  system  of  practice  that  threatens  to  heal 
the  sick  without  the  use  of  drugs.  Be  this  as  it 
may,  the  fact  remains  that  the  medical  profession 
waged  incessant  warfare  against  mesmerism,  osten- 
sibly because  the  fluidic  theory  was  held,  a  priori,  to 
be  unsound  and  unscientific. 

In  the  meantime  the  mesmerists  fell  naturally  into 
the  common  fallacy  of  supposing  that  their  success 
in  practice  was  demonstrative  of  the  soundness  of 
their  theory.  Thus  believing,  they  found  no  difficulty 
in  identifying  themselves  with  that  numerous  and 
highly  respectable  class  known  as  martyrs  to  the 
cause  of  Truth;  and,  consequently  hysteria  entered 
as  a  factor  in  the  controversy  on  the  side  of  the 
mesmerists  as  well  as  on  that  of  their  opponents. 

And  thus  the  controversy  went  on  for  many  years. 
The  mesmerists  constantly  gained  ground,  because 
they  could  heal  the  sick ;  and  their  opponents  as  con- 
stantly lost  ground  because  they  were  powerless  to 
disprove  the  facts  of  mesmerism  or  its  theory  of 
causation. 

In  the  meantime  Braid,  a  Manchester  physician  of 
high  standing  and  repute,  became  convinced  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  mesmeric  sleep  and  of  its  thera- 
peutic value,  but  remained  unconvinced  of  the  scien- 
tific validity  of  the  mesmeric  theory  of  causation. 
In  other  words,  he  did  not  deem  it  incumbent  upon 
him  to  deny  the  facts  because  he  deemed  the  theory 
untenable;  but,  like  a  true  scientist,  he  proceeded  to 
institute  a  series  of  experiments  to  prove  the  one  and 
to  disprove  the  other.  In  this  he  partially  succeeded. 


238        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

He  confirmed  the  sleep  together  with  its  therapeutic 
potency;  and  he  demonstrated  the  fact  that  the  sleep 
could  be  induced  without  physical  contact  with  the 
subject,  by  simply  causing  the  latter  to  gaze  steadily 
upon  a  bright  object  held  slightly  above  the  level  of 
his  eyes.  This  process  of  inducing  sleep  was  desig- 
nated by  its  discoverer  as  "  hypnotism,"  from  the 
Greek  radix  hypnos,  signifying  sleep.  Properly 
speaking,  therefore,  the  word  should  be  restricted 
accordingly ;  for  it  was  coined,  not  to  rechristen  mes- 
merism, but  to  distinguish  the  Braidian  process  from 
that  of  mesmerism  or  animal  magnetism.  This  dis- 
tinction, however,  was  soon  lost  sight  of  by  the 
successors  of  Braid,  who  held  that  his  discovery  had 
solved  the  whole  problem  of  induced  sleep  and  dis- 
proved the  fluidic  theory.  Braid  himself  did  not 
make  so  broad  a  claim,  although  he  was  as  anxious 
as  were  his  professional  brethren  to  demonstrate  the 
invalidity  of  that  theory.  He  simply  claimed  to 
have  discovered  one  method  by  which  sleep  can  be 
induced  without  personal  contact,  and,  consequently, 
independently  of  the  hypothetical  magnetic  fluid. 
He  expressly  declared  that  his  method  was  not  iden- 
tical with  that  of  mesmerism,  but  he  considered  "  the 
condition  of  the  nervous  system  induced  by  both 
modes  to  be  analogous,"  —  both  of  which  proposi- 
tions are  self-evident.  He  admitted  that  the  higher 
phenomena  of  mesmerism  could  not  be  produced  by 
his  processes,  for  example,  thought-transference,  etc. ; 
whereas  by  the  mesmeric  methods  the  phenomenon 
of  thought-reading  —  or  telepathy,  as  it  is  now  gen- 
erally termed  —  was  very  easily  produced. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  there  is  a  very  clear  line 


ANIMAL  MAGNETISM,  HYPNOTISM,   ETC.    239 

of  distinction  between  mesmerism  and  hypnotism,  as 
the  latter  was  understood  and  practised  by  its  dis- 
coverer. The  one  required  personal  contact,  and  the 
other  did  not.  By  the  methods  of  mesmerism  the 
higher  phenomena  could  be  produced  with  wonderful 
ease  and  certainty;  whereas  hypnotism,  as  practised 
by  its  founder,  was  powerless  in  that  direction.  In 
the  light  of  later  developments,  therefore,  it  is  self- 
evident  that  the  essential  difference  was  primarily 
in  the  methods  of  inducing  the  sleep,  and  that,  so 
far  as  Braid  himself  is  concerned,  he  deliberately 
threw  away  all  that  was  distinctively  valuable  and 
vital  in  mesmerism,  labelled  the  rest  "  hypnotism," 
and  invited  Science  to  feast  on  the  dry  bones.  He 
was  not  responsible,  however,  for  the  misinterpreta- 
tion of  his  work  that  immediately  followed,  nor  for 
the  confusion  consequent  upon  the  misinterpretation. 
The  vital  point  in  which  his  work  was  misinterpreted 
consisted  in  the  assumption,  by  the  enemies  of  mes- 
merism, that  Braid  had  disproved  the  fluidic  theory. 
This  led  to  a  confusion  in  terminology,  in  that  the 
word  "  hypnotism  "  came  to  be  employed  as  a  generic 
term,  definitive  of  all  methods  of  inducing  sleep,  so 
that,  instead  of  distinguishing  Braidism  from  mes- 
merism, it  obliterated  all  distinctions.  This,  in 
turn,  led  to  a  deplorable  mixing  of  methods,  so 
that  hypnotists  were  prone  to  employ  mesmeric 
methods  in  conjunction  with  those  of  hypnotism 
proper;  and  mesmerists  often  employed  the  hypnotic 
process  because  of  its  greater  facility  in  inducing 
sleep. 

The  result  was  that  mesmerists  gradually  lost  the 
power  to  produce  the  higher  phenomena  which  dis- 


240        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

tinguished  their  performances  when  the  old  methods 
were  exclusively  employed. 

In  the  meantime  Braidism  gradually  gained  a 
standing  among  the  medical  profession  of  Conti- 
nental Europe;  and  this  eventually  led  to  the  for- 
mulation of  the  law  of  suggestion,  as  applied  to 
hypnotism.  That  is  to  say,  it  was  discovered  that 
persons  in  the  hypnotic  state  are  constantly  amenable 
to  control  by  the  subtle  power  of  suggestion;  and 
the  law  was  thus  formulated  by  Liebault,  of  Nancy. 
It  has  since  been  discovered,  however,  that  the  law 
not  only  applies  to  hypnotized  persons,  but  that  it  is 
a  general  law  *  of  the  subjective  mind,  without  re- 
striction as  to  particular  states  or  conditions  of  the 
objective  mind. 

Nevertheless,  limited  as  it  was  supposed  to  be  to 
the  hypnotic  state,  it  threw  a  flood  of  light  upon  the 
phenomena  of  both  hypnotism  and  mesmerism.  The 
result  was  that  in  a  very  short  time  there  sprang  up 
a  school  of  hypnotism  (Nancy)  which  taught  that 
all  that  is  mysterious  about  either  hypnotism  or 
mesmerism  found  a  universal  solvent  in  suggestion. 
This,  of  course,  served  to  confuse  the  public  mind 
still  further  as  to  methods,  and  to  obliterate  distinc- 
tions as  to  causation.  Thus,  the  ultra-suggestionists 
held  that  all  that  was  supposed  to  distinguish  mes- 
merism from  hypnotism  was  easily  explicable  by 
reference  to  suggestion;  that  physical  contact  was 
but  a  form  of  larvated  suggestion ;  that  passes  served 
but  the  one  purpose  of  inspiring  confidence,  having 
no  therapeutic  value  beyond  the  suggestion  embraced 

1  See  "  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena,"  where  it  was  first  gener- 
alized as  a  universal  law. 


ANIMAL  MAGNETISM,  HYPNOTISM,  ETC.     241 

in  the  act;  that  digital  manipulation  of  any  kind 
owed  its  therapeutic  efficiency  solely  to  suggestion; 
and  many  went  so  far  as  to  include  all  material  rem- 
edies in  the  category  of  larvated  suggestions. 

I  have  already  pointed  out  the  fallacy  of  this  belief 
so  far  as  material  remedies  are  concerned.  Else- 
where1 I  have  pointed  out  the  fact  that  Braid's 
experiments  demonstrated  that  adults  could  be  hyp- 
notized by  his  methods  when  suggestion  in  any  form 
was  out  of  the  question;  and  the  records  of  mes- 
merism are  overflowing  with  evidence  of  the  fact 
that  many  of  its  most  important  phenomena  are  pro- 
duced under  circumstances  that  exclude  oral  sug- 
gestion, or  its  equivalents,  as  a  factor  in  the  case. 
For  instance,  the  fact  that  some  animals  can  be 
mesmerized,  and  others  hypnotized,  demonstrates  the 
absence,  in  both  cases,  of  either  oral  suggestion,  or 
any  form  of  larvated  suggestion  that  appeals  to  the 
intelligence  of  the  subject.  Moreover,  the  fact  that 
young  children  can  be  successfully  treated  by  mes- 
meric methods,  and  not  by  the  processes  of  hypnotism 
proper,  is  demonstrative  of  the  fact,  not  only  that 
oral  suggestion,  or  its  equivalents,  does  not  enter 
as  a  factor  in  either  case,  but  that  the  effects  of 
mesmerism  and  of  hypnotism  are  due  to  radically 
and  essentially  different  proximate  causes.  Again, 
what  is  of  equal  or  of  greater  interest  and  impor- 
tance, it  demonstrates  the  vastly  wider  range  of  use- 
fulness of  mesmerism  over  hypnotism. 

The  questions,  therefore,  still  remaining  unan- 
swered are  — 

1  See  "  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena,"  where  this  and  cognate 
subjects  are  more  fully  treated. 

16 


242        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL   MEDICINE 

1.  What  are  the  points  of  essential  difference  in 
the  practice  of  hypnotism  and  mesmerism? 

In  answer  to  this,  however,  it  may  be  safely  as- 
sumed that,  broadly  speaking,  physical  contact  is  the 
one  essential  feature  of  mesmeric  practice  that  dis- 
tinguishes it  from  that  of  hypnotism.  At  least  it  is 
the  only  visible,  tangible  difference;  and  it  is  tacitly 
assumed  to  be  the  only  difference  by  the  enemies  of 
mesmerism  who  have  sought  to  show  that  physical 
contact  is  unnecessary. 

2.  The  second  question,  then,  is,  What  is  the  ra- 
tionale of  the  therapeutic  potency  of  physical  contact  ? 

This  question  reintroduces  the  old  problem  of 
fluidic  emanations,  or  the  theory  of  animal  magne- 
tism; for  thus  far  but  two  hypotheses  have  been 
advanced  to  account  for  the  phenomena.  One  is  the 
theory  of  suggestion,  and  the  other  is  the  theory  of 
fluidic  emanations.  I  purpose  introducing  another 
hypothesis,  based  upon  the  correlated  facts  of  psy- 
chology and  histology,  which  may  be  provisionally 
termed  the  psycho-histological  theory,  or  the  theory 
of  direct  mental  action  upon  the  cells  involved. 

I  have  shown  that  suggestion,  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  term,  cannot  be  invoked  to  account  for  the 
phenomena  incident  to  personal  contact;  and  as  this 
will  more  fully  appear  as  we  proceed,  I  shall  pro- 
visionally dismiss  it  as  untenable. 

This  leaves  the  fluidic  theory  alone  to  be  discussed 
in  connection  with  my  own  interpretation  of  the  phe- 
nomena. This  I  shall  undertake  in  the  following 
chapter.  In  the  meantime  I  desire  to  impress  upon 
the  mind  of  the  reader  that  no  theory  invoked  to 
explain  the  results  of  personal  contact  with  the  pa- 


ANIMAL  MAGNETISM,   HYPNOTISM,  ETC.    243 

tient  in  the  practice  of  mesmerism  can  possess  the 
slightest  claim  to  validity  if  it  is  not  also  applicable 
to  the  innumerable  cases  recorded  in  history,  and 
handed  down  by  tradition,  of  healing  by  touch, 
or  the  laying  on  of  hands.  For  if  there  is  a  prin- 
ciple or  law  of  nature  underlying  the  phenomena  as 
shown  in  mesmerism,  it  follows  that  all  methods  of 
healing  in  which  physical  contact  is  the  essence  of 
the  process  are  governed  by  the  same  law. 

In  order  to  give  the  reader  a  faint  idea  of  its  an- 
tiquity, its  potency  as  a  therapeutic  agency,  the  wide 
range  of  its  usefulness  to  mankind  in  the  past,  and 
its  potentialities  when  the  principle  underlying  it  is 
once  understood,  I  condense  Ennemoser's  historical 
sketch  of  healing  by  touch  or  the  laying  on  of 
hands : *  — 

The  healing  of  the  sick  by  touch  and  the  laying 
on  of  hands,  says  that  indefatigable  historian  of 
ancient  methods  of  healing,  is  to  be  found  among 
the  earliest  nations,  —  among  the  Indians,  the  Egyp- 
tians, and  especially  among  the  Jews.  In  Egypt, 
sculptures  have  been  found  where  "  one  hand  is 
represented  on  the  stomach  and  the  other  on  the 
back." 2  Even  the  Chinese,  according  to  the  ac- 
counts of  the  early  missionaries  (Athanasius  Kircher, 
"China  illustrata "),  healed  sickness  by  the  laying 
on  of  hands.  In  the  Old  Testament  we  find  numer- 
ous examples,  of  which  a  few  are  selected. 

When  Moses  found  his  end  approaching,  he  prayed 

1  See  Howitt's  translation  of  Ennemoser's  "  History  of  Magic," 
vol.  i  pp.  109  et  seq.  (Bonn's  Scientific  Library). 

3  I  desire  the  reader  to  make  a  mental  note  of  this  fact  in  view  of 
what  is  to  follow  when  we  come  to  treat  of  the  practical  methods  of 
healing  by  digital  manipulation. 


244        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

for  a  worthy  successor,  and  we  find  the  following  pas- 
sage (Numbers  xxvii.  18,  20)  :  "  And  the  Lord  said 
unto  Moses,  Take  thee  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun,  a  man 
in  whom  is  the  spirit,  and  lay  thine  hand  upon  him. 
.  .  .  And  thou  shalt  put  some  of  thine  honor  upon 
him,  that  all  the  congregation  of  the  children  of  Israel 
may  be  obedient." 

Another  instance  is  to  be  found  in  the  healing  of 
the  seemingly  dead  child  by  Elisha,  who  stretched 
himself  three  times  upon  the  child,  and  called  upon 
the  Lord.  The  manner  in  which  Elisha  raised  the 
dead  son  of  the  Shunamite  woman  is  still  more  re- 
markable. He  caused  Gehazi  to  proceed  before  him 
to  lay  his  staff  upon  the  face  of  the  dead  child.  This, 
however,  proved  to  be  of  no  avail,  for  reasons  which 
will  be  stated  in  their  proper  place  hereinafter.  But 
when  Elisha  went  up  into  the  room,  and  laid  himself 
upon  the  child,  etc.,  and  his  hands  upon  the  child's 
hands,  so  that  the  child's  body  became  warm  again, 
the  child  opened  its  eyes. 

The  New  Testament  is  particularly  rich  in  exam- 
ples of  the  efficacy  of  laying  on  of  hands.  "  Neglect 
not  the  gift  that  is  in  thee,  which  was  given  thee 
by  prophecy,  with  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the 
presbytery"  (i  Timothy  iv.  14),  is  a  principal  maxim 
of  the  Apostles,  for  the  practical  use  of  their  powers 
for  the  good  of  their  brethren  in  Christ. 

In  St.  Mark  we  find  (xvi.  18),  "They  shall  lay 
hands  on  the  sick,  and  they  shall  recover."  St.  Paul 
was  remarkable  for  his  powers :  "And  it  came  to  pass 
that  the  father  of  Publius  lay  sick  of  a  fever  and  of 
a  bloody  flux ;  to  whom  Paul  entered  in,  and  prayed, 
and  laid  his  hands  on  him,  and  healed  him  "  (Acts 


ANIMAL   MAGNETISM,  HYPNOTISM,   ETC.     24$ 

xxviii.  8).  "And  Ananias  went  his  way,  and  en- 
tered into  the  house;  and  putting  his  hands  on  him, 
said,  Brother  Saul,  the  Lord,  even  Jesus,  that  ap- 
peared unto  thee  in  the  way  as  thou  earnest  hath  sent 
me  that  thou  mightest  receive  thy  sight  and  be  filled 
with  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  immediately  there  fell 
from  his  eyes  as  it  had  been  scales,  and  he  received 
sight"  (Acts  ix.  17,  18).  In  St.  Mark  we  find: 
"  And  they  brought  young  children  to  him,  that  he 
should  touch  them;  and  his  disciples  rebuked  those 
that  brought  them.  But  when  Jesus  saw  it  he  was 
much  displeased,  and  said  unto  them,  Suffer  the  little 
children  to  come  unto  me,  .  .  .  for  of  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  God.  .  .  .  And  he  took  them  up  in  his 
arms,  put  his  hands  upon  them,  and  blessed  them  " 
(Mark  x.  13-16).  "And  they  bring  unto  him  one 
that  was  deaf,  and  had  an  impediment  in  his  speech; 
and  they  beseech  him  to  put  his  hand  upon  him.  And 
he  took  him  aside  from  the  multitude,  and  put  his 
fingers  into  his  ears,  and  he  spit,  and  touched  his 
tongue;  and,  looking  up  to  heaven,  he  sighed,  and 
saith  unto  him,  Ephphatha,  that  is,  Be  opened.  And 
straightway  his  ears  were  opened,  and  the  string  of 
his  tongue  was  loosed,  and  he  spake  plain"  (Mark 

v".  32,  35)- 

Numerous  other  passages  are  found  in  the  New 
Testament  all  testifying  to  the  wonderful  therapeutic 
efficacy  of  laying  on  of  hands.  Some  of  them  are 
clearly  indicative  of  the  superiority  of  that  method 
over  all  other  processes  of  mental  healing.  Thus, 
we  are  told  that  when  Jesus  visited  his  native  village 
he  did  not  do  many  mighty  works  there  "  because  of 
their  unbelief."  But  Mark,  in  relating  the  circum- 


246         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

stance,  adds  this  significant  statement:  "And  he  could 
there  do  no  mighty  work,  save  that  he  laid  his  hands 
upon  a  few  sick  folk,  and  healed  them"  (Mark  vi. 
5).  The  true  significance  of  this  remark  seems  never 
to  have  been  appreciated.  It  means  that  the  unbelief 
of  the  people  prevented  him  from  healing  them  (auto- 
suggestion) or  performing  any  other  wonderful  work 
in  their  presence,  except  when  he  laid  his  hands  upon 
them.  Of  this,  however,  we  shall  take  occasion  to 
speak  more  at  length  at  the  proper  time. 

Resuming  the  thread  of  Ennemoser's  summary, 
we  find  that  St.  Patrick,  the  Irish  apostle,  healed 
the  blind  by  laying  his  hands  upon  them.  St.  Ber- 
nard is  said  to  have  restored  eleven  blind  persons 
to  sight,  and  eighteen  lame  persons  to  the  use  of 
their  limbs,  in  one  day  at  Constance.  At  Cologne 
he  healed  twelve  lame,  caused  three  dumb  persons 
to  speak,  and  ten  who  were  deaf  to  hear.  The  mir- 
acles of  SS.  Margaret,  Katherine,  Elizabeth,  Hilde- 
garde,  and  especially  the  miraculous  cures  of  the  two 
holy  martyrs,  Cosmas  and  Damianus,  belong  to  this 
class.  Among  others,  they  freed  the  Emperor  Jus- 
tinian from  a  sickness  that  was  supposed  to  be  incur- 
able. St.  Odilia  embraced  a  leper,  who  was  shunned 
by  all  men,  in  her  arms,  warmed  him,  and  restored 
him  to  health. 

Remarkable  above  all  others  are  those  cases  where 
persons  who  were  at  the  point  of  death  have  re- 
covered by  holy  baptism  or  extreme  unction.  The 
Emperor  Constantine  is  one  of  the  most  singular 
examples.  Pyrrhus,  king  of  Epirus,  had  the  power 
of  assuaging  colic  and  affections  of  the  spleen  by  lay- 
ing the  patients  on  their  backs  and  passing  his  great 


ANIMAL   MAGNETISM,   HYPNOTISM,  ETC.     247 

toe  over  them.  The  Emperor  Vespasian  cured  ner- 
vous affections,  lameness,  and  blindness,  solely  by 
the  laying  on  of  his  hands  (Suelin,  Vita  Vespas.). 
According  to  Ccelius  Spartianus,  Hadrian  cured  those 
afflicted  with  dropsy  by  touching  them  with  the  points 
of  his  fingers,  and  himself  recovered  from  a  violent 
fever  by  similar  treatment.  King  Olaf  healed  Egill 
on  the  spot  by  merely  laying  his  hands  upon  him 
and  singing  proverbs  (Edda,  p.  216).  The  kings  of 
England  and  France  cured  diseases  of  the  throat 
(goitre)  by  touch.  It  is  said  that  the  pious  Edward 
the  Confessor,  and  in  France  that  Philip  the  First, 
were  the  first  who  possessed  the  power.  The  formula 
used  on  such  occasions  was,  "  Le  roi  te  touche,  allez 
et  guerrisses,"  so  that  the  word  was  connected  with 
the  act  of  touching,  —  physical  contact.  In  Eng- 
land the  disease  was  called  the  King's  Evil;  and 
in  France  the  power  was  retained  until  within  the 
memory  of  men  now  living. 

Among  the  German  princes  this  curative  power 
was  ascribed  to  the  Counts  of  Hapsburg,  and  they 
were  also  able  to  cure  stammering  by  a  kiss.  Pliny 
says,  "  There  are  men  whose  whole  bodies  are  pos- 
sessed of  medicinal  properties,  as  the  Marsi,  the  Psyli, 
and  others,  who  cure  the  bite  of  serpents  merely  by 
the  touch."  In  later  times  the  Salmadores  and  Ensal- 
madores  of  Spain  became  very  celebrated,  who  healed 
almost  all  diseases  by  prayer,  laying  on  of  hands,  and 
bv  the  breath.  In  Ireland.  Valentine  Greatrakes  cured 

j 

at  first  king's  evil  by  laying  on  of  hands ;  later,  fever, 
wounds,  tumors,  gout,  and  at  length  all  diseases.  In 
the  seventeenth  century  the  gardener  Levret  and  the 
notorious  Streeper  performed  cures  in  London  by 


248         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

stroking  with  the  hand.  In  a  similar  manner  cures 
were  performed  by  Michael  Medina,  and  the  child 
of  Salamanca;  also  Marcellus  Empiricus  (Sprengel, 
Gesch.  der  Med.,  part  ii.  p.  179).  Richter,  an  inn- 
keeper at  Royen,  in  Silicia,  cured,  in  the  years  1817— 
1 8,  many  thousands  of  sick  persons  in  the  open  fields, 
by  touching  them  with  his  hands.  Under  the  Popes, 
laying  on  of  the  hands  was  called  Chirothesy.  Die- 
penbroek  wrote  two  treatises  on  it;  and,  according 
to  Lampe,  four-and-thirty  Chirothetists  were  declared 
to  be  holy. 

The  foregoing  comprise  but  a  small  part  of  the 
recorded  instances  illustrating  the  efficacy  of  healing 
by  touch,  or  laying  on  of  hands,  as  practised  in  all 
the  ages.  But  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  the 
process  is  something  apart  from  suggestion  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  the  term.  It  is  neither  oral  sug- 
gestion nor  any  of  its  equivalents.  It  is  not  larvated 
suggestion,  for  that  implies  an  element  of  deception. 
Nor  is  it  mental  suggestion  in  the  telepathic  sense,  — 
that  is,  thought-transference  at  a  distance  or  without 
personal  contact  with  the  patient.  All  these  forms  of 
suggestion  are  now  well  known  to  those  who  practise 
suggestive  therapeutics;  and  constant  efforts  have 
been  made  to  correlate  the  facts  of  mesmerism  with 
one  or  another  of  these  forms  of  suggestion.  But 
practical  mesmerists  well  know  that  there  are  phenom- 
ena arising  from  personal  contact  with  the  patient  that 
refuse  to  range  themselves  under  either  of  the  known 
forms  of  suggestion.  Hence  the  strength  and  perti- 
nacity with  which  they  have  held  to  the  fluidic  theory, 
the  theory  of  animal  magnetism.  To  do  them  entire 
justice  it  must  be  said  that  there  is  much  to  sustain 


ANIMAL  MAGNETISM,  HYPNOTISM,  ETC.      249 

the  fluidic  theory,  especially  in  the  absence  of  any 
means  of  disproving  it,  or  of  any  more  rational  sub- 
stitute. In  the  first  place  it  was  formulated  long 
before  the  potency  of  mental  action  upon  the  bodily 
functions  was  more  than  faintly  recognized.  Sec- 
ondly, the  phenomena  attending  personal  contact  with 
the  patient  seemed  to  present  some  analogies  to  those 
of  magnetic  attraction  and  repulsion.  Thirdly,  those 
who  opposed  the  magnetic  theory  offered  no  valid 
reason  for  so  doing  beyond  the  a  priori  assertion  that 
it  was  "  contrary  to  the  nature  of  things,"  —  a  very 
dangerous  weapon,  by  the  way,  for  a  logician  to 
handle  in  the  absence  of  proof  that  he  is  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  "  the  nature  of  things."  Fourthly, 
when,  at  length,  a  substitute  was  offered  in  the  newly 
discovered  law  of  suggestion,  it  was  found  not  to  pos- 
sess the  essentials  of  a  valid  working  hypothesis  for 
mesmerism,  for  that  it  did  not  account  for  all  the 
facts.  They  had,  therefore,  a  logical  right  to  reject 
it,  provisionally  at  least,  whatever  may  be  said  of 
their  own  logical  attitude  in  seeking  to  account  for 
the  unknown  by  referring  it  to  something  still  more 
unknown.  Be  that  as  it  may,  they  have  the  right  to 
demand  a  substitute  for  their  own  theory  which  will 
at  least  render  the  latter  unnecessary. 

It  is  my  purpose  in  the  ensuing  chapters  to  offer 
such  a  substitute.  Not,  I  hasten  to  say,  one  that  will 
eliminate  suggestion  as  a  factor  in  any  method  of 
mental  healing,  —  for  that  is  obviously  impossible  if 
suggestion  is  a  universal  law  of  mental  medicine,  — 
but  one  that  will  reveal  a  form  of  suggestion,  hitherto 
unrecognized,  that  is  more  direct  and  potent  in  its 
effects  than  any  other  form  known  to  science. 


CHAPTER   VII 

THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE   BY  ANTS  AND   BEES 
BY  MEANS   OF   PHYSICAL  CONTACT 

The  Psycho-Histological  Theory  of  Mental  Therapeutics.  —  Commu- 
nication of  Mental  Impulses  by  Means  of  Physical  Contact  an 
Elementary  Fact  of  Psychology.  —  The  Vital  Units  of  Pluricellular 
Organisms  habitually  communicate  by  this  Means.  —  Unicellular 
Organisms,  grouped  together  in  Colonies,  communicate  in  the  same 
Way.  —  Communication  between  Ants  by  Contact  of  Antennae. — 
Hypothetical  "  Langage  Antennal  "  of  Huber.  —  Antennal  Com- 
munion among  Bees.  —  Inadequacy  of  Tactile-Signal  Hypothesis. 
—  Thought-Transference  the  Obvious  Explanation. 

'RIEFLY  stated,  my  theory  is  that  the  effects 
ascribed  to  mesmeric  methods,  or,  generically 
speaking,  to  the  laying  on  of  hands,  are  due  to  thera- 
peutic impulses  conveyed  directly  from  the  mind  of 
the  operator  to  the  diseased  cells  in  the  patient,  the 
connection  being  established  by  bringing  into  physical 
contact  the  peripheral  nerve  terminals  of  the  two 
personalities.  At  first  glance  this  may  be,  to  many, 
a  startling  proposition;  but  it  is  a  question  of  fact, 
to  be  settled  by  evidence,  and  not  a  matter  of  philo- 
sophical speculation.  Fortunately,  the  evidence  re- 
quired in  this  case  is  very  simple  and  easy  to  find, 
but  two  questions  of  fact  being  involved. 

The  first  is  whether  it  is  possible  for  one  person  to 
communicate  intelligence,   sensation,  or  therapeutic 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE 

impulses  to  another  by  means  of  thought-transference, 
rapport  being  established  by  physical  contact. 

The  second  is  whether  the  requisite  mechanism 
exists  to  enable  therapeutic  impulses,  thus  conveyed, 
to  reach  the  diseased  cells  wherever  they  may  be 
located. 

In  regard  to  the  first  question,  I  have  already 
shown  that  the  ability  of  sentient  creatures  to  com- 
municate intelligence,  sensations,  or  mental  impulses 
by  means  of  physical  contact  is  one  of  the  most  ele- 
mentary facts  of  psychology.  I  have  shown  that 
physical  contact  of  cell  with  cell  by  means  of  proto- 
plasmic threads  or  filaments  is  the  one  prepotent 
cause,  or  condition  precedent  to  the  manifestation  of 
life  and  intelligence  in  all  pluricellular  organisms; 
that  in  the  absence  of  these  filamentary  connections 
man  would  be  nothing  more  than  a  congeries  of  cell 
tribes,  —  a  huge  amoeboid  mass,  sentient,  but  not 
intelligent, — an  aggregation,  but  not  a  confederation, 
of  intelligent  entities;  and  that  mental  unconscious- 
ness as  well  as  physical  insensibility  is  the  sure  result 
of  withdrawing  these  filamentary  lines  of  communi- 
cation between  the  cells. 

This,  of  course,  does  not  prove  that  one  person  can 
thus  affect  the  cells  of  another  by  means  of  personal 
contact,  but  it  is  here  mentioned  (i)  because  the 
power  to  heal  disease  by  physical  contact  must  neces- 
sarily include  the  power  to  reach  and  control  the 
diseased  cells  wherever  they  may  be  located;  and  (2) 
because  the  effectiveness  of  the  mechanism  employed, 
whether  it  be  actuated  from  within  or  from  without, 
is  due  wholly  to  the  fact  that  the  sentient  beings  which 
compose  it  possess  the  power  to  communicate  intelli- 


252         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

gence,  sensations,  or  impulses  to  each  other  by  means 
of  physical  contact.  Besides,  this  is  one  of  the  steps 
necessary  to  prove  my  assertion  that  the  ability  of 
sentient  creatures  to  communicate  intelligence  to  each 
other  by  means  of  physical  contact  is  one  of  the  most 
elementary  facts  in  psychology. 

In  further  proof  of  this  I  again  refer  to  Binet's 
"  The  Psychic  Life  of  Micro-organisms."  In  speak- 
ing of  the  fact  that  unicellular  organisms  are  often 
found  grouped  into  colonies,  each  temporarily  acting 
as  a  unit,  our  author  says :  — 

"  In  the  genus  Volvox  colonies  are  found  of  which 
the  structure  is  very  complicated.  Such  are  the  great 
green  balls  formed  by  the  aggregation  of  diminutive 
organisms,  which  form  the  surface  of  the  sphere,  and 
are  joined  together  by  their  envelopes;  they  have  each 
two  flagella,  which  pass  through  the  enclosing  mem- 
brane and  swing  unimpeded  on  the  outside;  the  en- 
velopes, each  tightly  holding  the  other,  form  hexagonal 
figures  exactly  like  the  cells  of  a  honeycomb.  Each 
volvox  is  at  liberty  within  its  own  envelope ;  but  it  pro- 
jects protoplasmic  extensions  which  pass  through  its 
cuticle  and  place  it  in  communication  with  its  neighbor. 
It  is  probable  that  these  protoplasmic  filaments  act  like 
so  many  telegraphic  threads  to  establish  a  network  of 
communication  among  all  the  individuals  of  the  same 
colony;  it  is  necessary,  in  fact,  that  these  diminutive 
organisms  be  in  communication  zvith  each  other  in 
order  that  their  flagella  may  move  in  unison  and  that 
the  entire  colony  may  act  as  a  unit  and  in  obedience  to 
a  single  impulse."  (The  italics  are  mine.) 

The  conclusion  at  which  M.  Binet  arrives  is  that 
the  ability  of  micro-organisms  to  communicate  intel- 
ligence to  each  other  by  means  of  physical  contact  is 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE  253 

conclusive  evidence  "  that  their  movements  are  reg- 
ulated by  the  action  of  a  diffused  nervous  system 
present  in  the  protoplasm." 

This  is  a  very  just  conclusion;  for  if  it  were  not 
true,  the  axiom  of  evolutionary  science,  that  "  the 
potentialities  of  manhood  reside  in  the  lowest  uni- 
cellular organism,"  would  be  but  an  empty  phrase, 
devoid  of  any  biological  significance.  In  other  words, 
there  must  be  a  diffused  nervous  system  in  the  pro- 
toplasm of  every  unicellular  organism  from  which 
to  develop  a  structural  nervous  organism  in  the 
metazoan. 

Reversing  the  order  of  statement  of  propositions, 
the  foregoing  is  the  equivalent  of  saying,  a  priori, 
that,  "  given  a  nervous  organism,  diffused  or  struc- 
tural, in  any  sentient  creature,  it  follows  that,  other 
conditions  being  favorable,  it  can  communicate  intel- 
ligence to  its  fellows  by  means  of  physical  contact. 
If,  now,  this  proposition  is  sustained  by  a  posteriori 
proofs,  we  may  safely  bank  upon  it  as  a  fact  in  nature 
which  demonstrates  our  thesis. 

Thus  far,  then,  I  have  shown  that  the  vital  units 
of  pluricellular  organisms  habitually  communicate 
with  each  other,  and  that  unicellular  organisms,  when 
grouped  together  in  colonies,  communicate  with  each 
other  in  the  same  way.  It  remains  to  show  that  some 
pluricellular  organisms  can  and  do  hold  intelligent 
communion  with  each  other  under  identical  condi- 
tions, namely,  physical  contact. 

To  this  end  we  will  begin  by  obeying  the  scriptural 
injunction :  "  Go  to  the  ant,  consider  her  ways,  and 
be  wise."  In  doing  so  I  shall  avail  myself  largely 
of  Romanes'  so-called  "  complete  resume  of  all  the 


254        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

more  important  facts  of  animal  intelligence  "  *  known 
to  science  at  the  time  he  wrote.  From  this  we  learn, 
first,  that  the  sense  of  sight  in  ants  is  extremely  lim- 
ited; secondly,  that  they  are  destitute  of  the  sense  of 
hearing,  and,  thirdly,  that  they  have  some  very  com- 
plete and  perfect  means  of  communicating  intelli- 
gence to  each  other.  Their  senses  of  taste  and  smell 
are  very  acute,  and  of  course  very  useful  to  them  for 
certain  definite  purposes.  But  they  are  obviously  not 
adapted  to  the  communication  of  intelligence  to  the 
extent  required  to  enable  them  to  conduct  the  com- 
plicated system  of  social  and  political  government 
which  distinguishes  them.  Sight,  hearing,  taste,  and 
smell  being  excluded  from  consideration,  there  re- 
mains but  the  one  physical  sense  of  feeling  to  which 
we  can  ascribe  the  power  to  communicate  intelligence. 
The  one  observable  fact  that  gives  color  to  this  sup- 
position is  that  they  bring  themselves  into  physical 
contact  with  each  other  by  means  of  their  antennae 
whenever  an  emergency  arises  requiring  a  consulta- 
tion, or  necessitating  the  issuance  of  a  command.  But 
the  question  at  once  arises,  Is  the  sense  of  touch,  per 
se,  equal  to  an  explanation  of  all  the  facts  relating 
to  the  conveyance  of  the  intelligence  required  to 
organize  and  administer  a  complicated  system  of 
governmental  polity,  to  adjust  social  relations,  to 
maintain  discipline  in  war  and  enforce  a  division  of 
labor  in  peace,  to  organize  and  maintain  an  army  of 
offence  and  defence,  to  discipline  its  forces  and  com- 
mand it  in  action,  to  build  bridges  and  construct  pon- 
toons and  ferries  for  the  passage  of  vast  armies  over 
streams  otherwise  impassable,  to  invade  successfully 

\  See  "  Animal  Intelligence,"  Appletons'  ed 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE  255 

the  domains  of  foreign  tribes  and  capture  and  enslave 
their  inhabitants,  and,  finally,  to  inaugurate  and  main- 
tain a  system  of  slave  labor  vastly  more  successful, 
and,  let  us  hope,  more  humane,  than  any  that  has 
ever  prevailed  in  the  history  of  mankind?  All  this, 
and  much  more,  is  to  be  accounted  for  on  some 
hypothesis  involving  the  transmission  of  intelligence 
between  the  units  of  this  vast  and  complicated  organ- 
ization. I  am  willing,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument, 
to  concede  all  that  can  reasonably  be  claimed  for 
natural  selection  or  survival  of  the  fittest  as  a  factor 
in  the  evolution  of  such  a  system.  But  there  still 
remains  the  fact  that  in  a  system  so  complex,  and 
involving  so  many  factors,  there  must  constantly  arise 
emergencies  requiring  original  thought,  inventive 
adaptation  of  means  to  ends,  and  corresponding  co- 
operative action  on  the  part  of  numerous  individuals, 
each  with  a  separate  duty  assigned  to  him;  all  of 
which,  humanly  speaking,  presupposes  consultation, 
an  interchange  of  ideas,  and  an  agreement  as  to  the 
part  which  each  is  to  perform  in  the  adaptation  of 
means  to  ends ;  and  this,  in  turn,  presupposes  a  com- 
mensurate means  of  communication.  It  seems  obvi- 
ous, to  start  with,  that  no  conceivable  code  of  mere 
physical  signals  or  sign  language  can  possibly  be 
adequate  to  the  purpose,  especially  since  the  exchange 
of  one  or  two  strokes  of  their  antennae  is  sufficient 
to  organize  an  army  and  promulgate  a  plan  of  cam- 
paign. It  seems  equally  obvious  that  the  only  alter- 
native hypothesis  is  that  of  thought-transference, 
rapport  being  established  by  physical  contact  in  sub- 
stantially the  same  way  that  it  is  established  between 
unicellular  organisms. 


2 $6         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

Unfortunately  for  our  purpose,  scientists  have 
never  studied  the  habits  of  ants  with  this  hypothesis 
in  view;  and  consequently  the  facts  upon  which  we 
must  rely  are  incidentally  stated  in  connection  with 
other  matters.  This,  however,  is  not  without  its 
advantages  from  an  evidential  point  of  view.  Ro- 
manes seems  to  have  purposely  avoided  the  question, 
and  confines  himself  to  the  task  of  proving,  through 
the  writings  of  others  (for  example,  Sir  John  Lub- 
bock),  that  ants  have  a  means  of  communication,  but 
that  it  is  not  through  the  sense  of  hearing.  He  ac- 
cuses Huber  of  dealing  merely  in  "  general  state- 
ments as  to  '  contact  of  antennae '  without  narrating 
any  particulars  of  his  observations  "  (pp.  49  et  seq.). 
The  "Encyclopaedia  Britannica  "  (art.  "Ant"),  on 
the  other  hand,  states  that  Huber  took  great  interest 
in  the  question,  and  so  strongly  was  he  impressed  by 
the  fact  of  communion  by  antennas  "  that  he  applied 
the  term  langage  antennal "  to  the  intercourse.  Be 
this  as  it  may  in  regard  to  his  interest  in  ants,  he  cer- 
tainly made  some  very  striking  experiments  with  bees 
on  the  same  lines.  Quoting  from  Biichner,  Romanes 
prints  the  following :  — 

"  Huber  tested  this  communication  by  the  antennae 
by  a  striking  experiment.  He  divided  a  hive  into  two 
separate  parts  by  a  partition  wall,  whereupon  great 
excitement  arose  in  the  division  in  which  there  was  no 
queen,  and  this  was  only  quieted  when  some  workers 
began  to  build  royal  cells.  He  then  divided  a  hive  in 
similar  fashion  by  a  trellis,  through  which  bees  could 
pass  their  feelers.  In  this  case  all  remained  quiet,  and 
no  attempt  was  made  to  build  royal  cells;  the  queen 
could  also  be  clearly  seen  crossing  her  antenna  with 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE  257 

the  workers  on  the  other  side  of  the  trellis."1     (The 
italics  are  mine.) 

Romanes  also  quotes  De  Fraviere  to  show  that 
bees  "  communicate  information "  by  means  of 
sounds,  as  follows :  — 

"  As  soon  as  a  bee  arrives  with  important  news,  it  is 
at  once  surrounded,  emits  two  or  three  shrill  notes,  and 
taps  a  comrade  with  its  long,  flexible,  and  very  slender 
feelers,  or  antennae.  The  friend  passes  the  news  in 
similar  fashion,  and  the  intelligence  soon  traverses  the 
whole  hive.  If  it  is  of  an  agreeable  kind  —  if,  for  in- 
stance, it  concerns  the  discovery  of  a  store  of  sugar  or 
of  honey,  or  of  a  flowering  meadow  —  all  remains  or- 
derly. But,  on  the  other  hand,  great  excitement  arises 
if  the  news  presages  some  threatened  danger,  or  if  some 
strange  animals  are  threatening  invasion  of  the  hive." 

It  thus  appears  that,  Romanes  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding,  the  "  shrill  notes  "  uttered  by  the 
news-laden  bee  bear  the  same  relation  to  the  "  com- 
munication of  information "  that  the  sound  of  a 
church-going  bell  bears  to  preaching.  This,  however, 
is  a  matter  of  minor  importance  in  this  discussion,  for 
it  is  now  well  settled  that  whatever  of  specific  infor- 
mation an  ant  or  a  bee  desires  to  communicate  to  his 
fellows  is  transmitted,  primarily,  by  means  of  physical 
contact  in  the  manner  stated.  This  is  necessarily  true 
of  the  ant;  for,  as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  no 
other  sense  is  available  for  the  purpose  than  the 
sense  of  touch  or  feeling.  It  is  also  a  matter  of  doubt 
whether  the  bee  is  any  better  provided  with  the  sense 
of  hearing;  for,  as  Romanes  tells  us, — 

1  Op.  cit.,  p.  159. 

17 


258         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL   MEDICINE 

"  As  in  ants,  so  in  bees.  Sir  John  Lubbock's  experi- 
ments failed  to  yield  any  evidence  of  a  sense  of  hearing-. 
But  in  this  connection  we  must  not  forget  the  well- 
known  fact,  first  observed  by  Huber,  that  the  queen  bee 
will  answer  by  a  certain  sound,  the  peculiar  piping  of  a 
pupa  queen ;  and  again,  by  making  a  certain  cry  or 
humming  noise,  will  strike  consternation  suddenly  on 
all  the  bees  in  the  hive,  —  these  remaining  for  a  long 
time  motionless  as  if  stupefied."  1 

It  seems  probable,  however,  that  the  cry  of  queen 
answering  to  queen  is  merely  an  evidence  of  the  fact 
that  the  queens  are  more  highly  endowed  in  this 
respect,  as  in  many  others,  than  the  common  bees; 
and  the  "  humming  "  which  strikes  consternation  on 
the  whole  hive  is  easily  accounted  for  on  the  theory 
of  physical  vibrations  transmitted  from  one  to  an- 
other. Besides,  the  paragraph  quoted  above,  from 
De  Fraviere,  fails  to  reveal  any  evidence  whatever 
that  the  bees  were  affected  in  the  least  by  the  "  shrill 
notes  "  of  the  bee  bearing  the  portentous  message. 
It  was  only  after  a  general  interchange  of  antennae 
strokes  that  the  excitement  became  visible. 

Enough  has  now  been  said  to  establish  the  fact, 
provisionally,  that  specific  information  is  conveyed 
by  these  insects  to  each  other  solely  by  means  of 
physical  contact,  —  touching  each  other  with  their 
antennas.  It  remains  to  consider  further  the  question 
whether  the  communication  is  made  by  means  of  a 
code  of  tactile  signals,  which  has  to  be  committed  to 
memory  by  each  individual,  or  by  thought-transfer- 
ence, the  antennal  contact  merely  serving  the  purpose 
of  establishing  mental  rapport  between  the  commu- 

1  Op.  cit,  p.  144. 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE  259 

nicators.  It  is  conceivable  that  a  limited  code  of  tac- 
tile signals  might  be  in  use  which  would  serve  the 
purposes  of  ordinary  routine  life;  but  when  emer- 
gencies arise  which  no  sagacity  can  foresee,  and  which 
present  problems  of  which  no  experience  can  aid  in 
the  solution,  the  tactile-signal  hypothesis  falls  of  its 
weight. 

I  have  space  for  but  one  illustrative  incident.  I 
select  it,  not  because  it  is  the  best,  for  there  are 
many  recorded  of  a  far  more  complicated  nature, 
and  involving  more  of  co-operative  action,  but  because 
it  involves  a  situation  that  probably  never  was  and 
never  will  be  duplicated,  and  the  antennal  consultation 
was  observed  and  recorded. 

A  gentleman's  apiary  was  invaded  by  ants.  In 
order  to  prevent  future  access  the  four  legs  of  the 
beehive-stand  were  put  into  small  shallow  bowls  filled 
with  water.  But  owing  to  defective  arrangements  in 
other  respects,  the  ants  found  their  way  into  the  hive 
several  nights  in  succession.  Finally,  it  was  thought 
that  all  conditions  were  perfect. 

"  But  once  more  the  ants  were  found  in  the  stand, 
and  closer  investigation  showed  that  one  of  the  bowls 
was  dried  up,  and  that  a  crowd  of  ants  had  gathered  in 
it.  But  they  found  themselves  puzzled  how  to  go  on 
with  their  robbery,  for  the  leg  did  not,  by  chance,  rest 
on  the  bottom  of  the  bowl,  but  was  about  a  half  an  inch 
from  it.  The  ants  were  seen  rapidly  touching  each  other 
with  their  antenna,  or  carrying  on  a  consultation,  until 
at  last  a  rather  larger  ant  came  forward  and  put  an  end 
to  the  difficulty.  It  rose  to  its  full  height  on  its  hind 
legs,  and  struggled  until  at  last  it  seized  a  rather  pro- 
jecting splinter  of  the  wooden  leg,  and  managed  to  take 
hold  of  it.  As  soon  as  this  was  done  other  ants  ran  on 


260        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

to  it,  strengthened  the  hold  by  clinging,  and  so  made  a 
living  bridge,  over  which  the  others  could  easily  pass."  * 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  situation  was  unique, 
and  the  problem  to  be  solved  involved  the  co-operative 
action  of  several  individuals,  each  with  a  distinct  and 
separate  duty  to  perform  with  intelligent  reference  to 
the  general  plan  agreed  upon  at  the  antennal  consul- 
tation. It  may  be  objected  that  the  essential  thing 
was  merely  a  case  of  bridge-~building,  which  is  com- 
mon among  ants.  To  this  it  is  replied  that  all  emer- 
gencies requiring  the  building  of  bridges  by  ants  are 
necessarily  unique,  for  each  involves  the  solution  of 
fresh  engineering  problems,  the  selection  of  suitable 
material  from  an  unfamiliar  vicinage,  and  the  united 
action  of  hundreds  of  individuals,  each  performing  the 
part  assigned  to  him  at  the  antennal  consultation. 

I  submit  that  no  conceivable  code  of  mere  tactile 
signals  can  possibly  be  equal  to  such  an  emergency. 
We  must,  therefore,  seek  a  solution  of  the  problem 
in  some  mental  power  or  faculty,  known  to  exist  else- 
where, which  is  potentially  equal  to  the  task,  provided 
it  exists  in  the  ant.  In  offering  the  hypothesis  of 
thought-transference  as  a  solution,  I  am  not  going 
outside  of  the  region  of  known  mental  powers,  nor 
of  legitimate  deductions  therefrom.  For  I  shall 
show,  in  the  ensuing  chapter,  that  thought-trans- 
ference between  human  beings,  under  conditions  of 
personal  contact,  is  a  very  common  phenomenon ;  and 
I  shall  claim  the  logical  right  to  deduce  from  that 
fact  my  conclusions  relating  to  the  ant,  on  the  ground 
that  mind  in  that  insect  is  the  biological  analogue  of 

*  Op.  cit,  pp.  136,  137. 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE  261 

mind  in  man.  Having  the  same  origin,  they  are  gov- 
erned by  the  same  laws  of  progressive  development; 
and  if  one,  at  a  certain  stage  of  mental  evolution, 
develops  the  faculty  of  thought-transference,  it  fol- 
lows that  the  other  may  do  the  same  at  the  equivalent 
stage  of  mental  development.  And  this  is  but  an- 
other exemplification  of  the  verity  of  the  axiom  of 
evolutionary  science,  that  "  the  potentialities  of  man- 
hood reside  in  the  lowest  unicellular  organism." 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE    BY   MAN   UNDER 
CONDITIONS  OF   PHYSICAL   CONTACT 

The  Distinction  between  Thought-Transference  and  Telepathy.  — 
The  "  Willing  "  Game.  —  The  Muscle-Reading  Hypothesis.  —  In- 
stances of  Thought-Transference  which  it  does  not  explain.  — 
Thought-Transference  facilitated  by  Physical  Contact.  —  The 
Spiritistic  "  Circle."  —  Experiments  in  Thought-Transference  with 
and  without  Physical  Contact.  —  The  Nervous  Organism  of  Man 
specially  adapted  for  Thought-Transference,  and  hence  for  Heal- 
ing by  Physical  Contact. 

BEFORE  proceeding  to  discuss  the  subject  of 
thought-transference  by  human  beings  under 
conditions  of  physical  contact,  I  wish  to  say  a  word 
in  regard  to  terminology,  especially  in  reference  to 
the  distinction  that  should  be  observed  between 
the  terms  "  thought-transference  "  and  "  telepathy." 
The  Century  Dictionary  treats  them  as  synonyms, 
and  much  confusion  in  the  popular  mind  has  resulted. 
I  do  not  hope,  however,  to  reform  this  habit  in  the 
public  mind.  I  merely  wish  to  say  that  I  shall  use 
the  word  "  telepathy  "  strictly  as  it  has  been  defined 
by  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  —  namely,  to 
"  cover  all  cases  of  impression  received  at  a  distance 
without  the  normal  operation  of  the  recognized  sense 
organs."  "  Thought-transference,"  on  the  other 
hand,  will  be  used  to  cover  such  cases  of  transferred 
mental  impressions  as  occur  at  a  not  appreciable 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE  263 

distance,  —  as  when  the  agent  and  the  percipient  are 
in  personal  contact,  or  within  touching  distance;  for 
example,  when  passes  are  made  in  close  proximity  to 
the  person  of  the  percipient  or  subject.  The  terms 
"  agent "  and  "  percipient "  are  applied  in  both 
telepathy  and  thought-transference,  —  the  former  to 
the  one  who  sends  the  message,  and  the  latter  to  the 
one  who  receives  it. 

As  before  stated,  when  the  old  mesmeric  methods 
were  employed,  there  was  constant,  or  practically 
constant,  contact  between  the  operator  and  his  sub- 
ject. The  result  was  that  the  higher  phenomena — for 
example,  thought-transference  —  were  as  constantly 
produced.  It  attracted  the  attention  of  the  so-called 
"  scientists  "  of  the  day,  however,  only  to  be  met  by 
wholesale  denial  and  ridicule;  and  nothing  worthy 
of  the  name  was  done  by  the  latter  to  test  the  verity 
of  the  phenomena.  Then,  when  the  method  of  hyp- 
notism, or  Braidism,  was  found  to  be  a  labor-saving 
process  of  inducing  the  sleep,  it  was  largely  adopted 
by  mesmerists,  the  result  of  which  was  that  the  higher 
phenomena  were  rarely  produced;  and  in  due  time 
thought-transference  was  relegated,  in  the  public 
mind,  to  the  domain  of  exploded  humbugs,  or,  at 
best,  the  lost  arts,  and  "  science "  gained  a  tem- 
porary triumph. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  some  one  invented  what 
is  familiarly  known  as  the  "  willing  game."  There 
was  no  claim  that  there  was  any  mesmerism,  hyp- 
notism, or  magnetism  in  it;  and  so  marvellous  were 
some  of  the  results  that  science  consented  to  become 
interested  in  it,  notwithstanding  the  claim  that  it 
demonstrated  thought-transference.  Dr.  W.  B.  Car- 


264        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

penter,  of  London,  was,  I  believe,  the  first  to  go 
on  record  with  a  description  of  the  phenomena  and 
a  so-called  scientific  explanation.  His  description 
follows :  — 

"  Several  persons  being  assembled,  one  of  them  leaves 
the  room,  and  during  his  absence  some  object  is  hidden. 
On  the  absentee's  re-entrance,  two  persons  who  know 
the  hiding-place  stand,  one  on  either  side  of  him,  and 
establish  some  personal  contact  with  him,  one  method 
being  to  place  one  finger  on  the  shoulder,  while  another 
is  for  each  to  place  a  hand  on  his  body.  He  walks  about 
the  room  between  the  two  '  willers/  and  generally  suc- 
ceeds before  long  in  finding  the  hidden  object,  being 
led  towards  it,  as  careful  observation  and  experiment 
have  fully  proved,  by  the  involuntary  muscular  action 
of  his  unconscious  guides,  one  or  the  other  of  them 
pressing  more  heavily  when  the  object  is  on  his  side, 
and  the  finder  as  involuntarily  turning  toward  that 
side."1 

This  conclusion  was  arrived  at  after  a  few  experi- 
ments conducted  in  such  a  way  as  to  exclude  the 
possibility  of  disproving  Dr.  Carpenter's  theory  as 
to  his  particular  experiments,  or  any  other  experi- 
ments conducted  as  he  states  above.  There  is,  indeed, 
no  possible  doubt  that  experiments  of  that  particular 
kind,  and  conducted  in  that  particular  way,  are  easily 
explicable  under  his  hypothesis;  for,  as  Dr.  T.  A. 
McGraw,  of  Detroit,  later  pointed  out,  it  is  practi- 
cally impossible  for  human  nature  to  resist  the  temp- 
tation to  assist  (consciously  or  unconsciously)  in 

1  This  quotation  is  found  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research,  vol.  i.  p.  18.  It  is  from  Carpenter's  "  Mesmerism. 
Spiritualism,  etc.,"  p.  54. 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE  26$ 

making  the  experiment  a  success.  This  is  especially 
true  of  parlor  entertainments  conducted  for  the  mere 
amusement  of  the  spectators. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  Professor  Carpenter  labelled 
his  explanation  "  muscle-reading,"  and  muscle-read- 
ing it  is  to  this  day  among  those  so-called  scientists 
who  seek  to  elevate  their  ignorance  to  the  dignity  of 
skepticism  as  to  the  verity  of  thought-transference 
or  telepathy.  Wherever  personal  contact  is  not  ex- 
cluded, every  possible  phase  of  thought-transference 
is  dismissed  with  the  one  phrase  "  muscle-read- 
ing " !  and  all  other  phases  of  the  phenomena  are 
systematically  denied.  Thus,  if  a  psychic  correctly 
names  every  card  in  a  pack,  one  after  another  in 
rapid  succession,  it  is  "  muscle-reading  "  if  she  holds 
the  hand  of  the  agent ;  if  not,  it  is  trickery  and  leger- 
demain. If  Mrs.  Piper  holds  the  hand  of  her  sitter 
while  she  correctly  relates  the  incidents  of  his  past 
life,  and  tells  correctly  the  names  and  ages  of  his 
family  or  friends,  living  or  dead,  it  is  "  muscle-read- 
ing." If  she  performs  the  same  feat  without  physi- 
cal contact  with  the  sitter,  it  is  fraud  and  collusion. 
This,  with  all  its  monumental  absurdity,  expressed 
and  implied,  is  the  present  attitude  of  so-called 
science  —  or  rather,  let  us  say,  of  some  so-called 
scientists  —  with  reference  to  thought-transference 
and  telepathy. 

Let  us  see  what  it  implies.  As  the  great  Dr.  Car- 
penter set  the  pace  for  that  class  of  scientists,  let  us 
re-examine  his  words  and  compare  them  with  the 
conclusions  drawn  by  his  followers.  It  will  be  ob- 
served that  he  carefully  confines  himself  to  one  class 
of  cases,  namely,  those  wherein  the  psychic  is  re- 


266        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

quired  to  do  something,  —  for  example,  walk  about 
the  room  in  search  of  a  hidden  object.  The  "willers" 
place  their  hands  upon  his  shoulders  and  accompany 
him  about  the  room,  strongly  "  willing  "  him  to  find 
the  hidden  object.  Dr.  Carpenter  infers  that  the 
psychic  was  led  to  it  "  by  the  involuntary  muscular 
action  of  his  unconscious  guides,  one  or  the  other 
of  them  pressing  more  heavily  when  the  object  is 
on  his  side,  and  the  finder  as  involuntarily  turning 
toward  that  side." 

The  theory,  in  other  words,  is  that  the  psychic  is 
pushed  or  pulled  in  the  right  direction  by  muscular 
action  alone,  voluntary  or  involuntary.  And  who 
will,  or  can,  deny  the  justness  of  this  conclusion 
drawn  from  the  premises  as  stated  by  Dr.  Carpenter  ? 
But  does  it  justify  the  conclusion  that  "  muscular 
action  "  can  be  pressed  into  service  to  enable  a  psy- 
chic (normal  acquisition  of  knowledge  being  out  of 
the  question)  to  give  correctly  names  of  persons, 
dates  of  events,  denominations  of  cards,  or  to  relate 
an  anecdote  that  is  verifiable  only  by  subsequent  re- 
search? The  question  answers  itself;  and  yet  all 
this  is  included  in  the  "  muscle-reading  "  hypothesis 
of  the  so-called  science  of  the  day. 

The  Society  for  Psychical  Research  felt  compelled 
to  pay  attention  to  the  hypothesis  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  that,  whilst  Dr.  Carpenter's  conclusions 
might  be  justified  in  the  limited  field  which  he  ex- 
plored, it  could  not  be  pressed  beyond  its  boundaries. 
To  that  end  its  committee  cited  numerous  instances, 
in  contact  cases,  that  were  clearly  inexplicable  on  the 
theory  of  muscle-reading.  But  the  efforts  of  the 
committee  were  chiefly  directed  toward  proving  that 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE  267 

the  same  things  could  be  done  without  personal  con- 
tact. In  this,  as  all  the  world  knows,  —  except  the 
class  of  "  scientists  "  named,  —  they  succeeded  so 
far  as  to  demonstrate  telepathy  beyond  a  peradven- 
ture.  Unfortunately  for  my  present  purpose  I  am 
not  in  a  position  to  avail  myself  of  their  labors. 
It  would  be  a  work  of  supererogation,  at  this  late 
day,  to  undertake  to  demonstrate  to  readers  of  this 
book  the  verity  of  telepathy  as  a  faculty  of  the 
human  mind.  Telepathy  will,  therefore,  be  taken 
for  granted. 

What  I  wish  to  show  is  that  thought-transference 
is  greatly  facilitated  by  personal  contact ;  and  as  the 
labors  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  were  not 
directed  to  that  object,  the  illustrative  incidents  are 
not  so  plentiful  as  could  be  desired.  Nevertheless, 
I  hope  to  make  up  for  it  by  appealing  to  the  experi- 
ence of  every  one  who  has  taken  an  intelligent  interest 
in  psychical  research. 

I  will  cite  one  case,  however,  which  will  serve  to 
illustrate  my  meaning.  It  is  found  on  page  55  of 
Vol.  I.  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society.  It  is 
stated  as  follows :  — 

"  My  daughter,  who  had  recently  returned  from  a 
visit  to  her  brother  at  his  vicarage,  asked  M.  B.  (who 
was  again  seated  with  eyes  bandaged  and  pencil  in 
hand),  'Who  preached  at  my  brother's  church  last 
Sunday  evening?'  the  answer  to  the  question  being 
known  to  my  daughter  only.  M.  B.  wrote  the  first 
six  letters  of  the  name,  viz.,  '  Westmo — ,'  and  then 
said,  '  I  feel  no  more  influence.'  My  daughter  said, 
'  Lean  your  head  against  me.'  M.  B.  did  so,  and  then 
wrote  the  rest  of  the  name,  making  it  quite  right  — 
'  Westmore.' " 


268        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

It  is  clear  that  Dr.  Carpenter  would  not  have 
regarded  the  first  part  of  this  answer  as  coming 
within  his  "  muscle-reading "  hypothesis,  for  there 
was  no  contact  whatever;  and  it  would  require  the 
united  efforts  of  a  large  number  of  his  most  devoted 
followers  to  believe  that  a  momentary  contact  of  the 
head  of  the  psychic  with  the  clothing  of  the  "  wilier  " 
would  enable  her  to  complete  the  word  by  "  muscle- 
reading,"  as  Dr.  Carpenter  defined  it.  In  other 
words,  it  would  require  a  large  amount  of  "  scientific 
credulity "  to  believe  that  this  momentary  contact 
could  convey  from  one  to  the  other  the  remaining 
letters  of  the  name,  by  "  unconscious  muscular  action 
on  the  part  of  one  person,  and  automatically  inter- 
preted by  the  other." 

In  strict  justice,  however,  to  those  scientists  who 
find  a  universal  solvent  for  all  contact  cases  in 
"  muscle-reading,"  it  must  be  stated  that  the  above- 
named  Society  set  the  pace  at  the  beginning  of  its 
labors  by  agreeing  to  relegate  indiscriminately  all 
contact  cases  to  the  domain  of  muscle-reading.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  adherence  to  this  rule  has  led  the 
Society  and  its  followers  into  innumerable  absurdi- 
ties, and  greatly  retarded  its  own  progress  in  the 
investigation  of  some  important  phases  of  psychic 
phenomena,  —  for  example,  mesmerism.  It  was  a 
tub  thrown  to  the  scientific  whale ;  albeit  it  will  yet  be 
found  that  the  tub,  thus  recklessly  thrown  away,  was 
one  of  its  most  valuable  assets.  For  if  it  is  true  that 
thought-transference  is  facilitated  to  an  appreciable 
extent  by  physical  contact  between  agent  and  per- 
cipient, it  is  a  fact  in  nature  that  science  cannot  safely 
ignore.  Necessarily  such  a  fact  is  invested  with 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE  269 

profound  significance;  and  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research,  when  it  assumed  to  ignore  it  in  deference 
to  an  insensate  prejudice  born  of  profound  ignorance, 
wronged  itself  and  indefinitely  retarded  the  progress 
of  the  investigation  it  was  organized  to  prosecute. 
It  is  an  axiom  of  science  that  no  fact  or  phenomenon, 
however  insignificant  it  may  seem  to  be,  can  safely 
be  disregarded  in  an  inductive  investigation  of  the 
problems  of  nature;  for  it  often  happens  that  a 
phenomenon  which  in  itself  is  apparently  destitute 
of  scientific  significance  furnishes  a  solvent  for  the 
most  important  problems  when  considered  in  its  rela- 
tions to  other  phenomena. 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  show  that  the  Society 
has  seriously  handicapped  itself  by  ignoring  phe- 
nomena that  afford  a  complete  and  valid  explanation 
of  many  important  psychological  problems.  That, 
however,  is  a  question  of  no  practical  importance  to  us 
in  this  inquiry,  although  the  points  wherein  it  failed 
will  appear  incidentally  as  we  proceed.  The  question 
with  which  we  are  now  concerned  is,  Does  physi- 
cal contact  between  agent  and  percipient  facilitate 
thought-transference?  In  presenting  the  evidence  on 
this  point  I  can  safely  appeal  to  the  observation  and 
experience  of  thousands  who  have  come  in  contact 
with  so-called  spirit  mediums.  Any  one  who  has 
attended  an  old-fashioned  spiritistic  seance  will  recall 
the  fact  that  physical  contact  between  members  of  the 
circle  was  considered  an  essential  prerequisite  to  suc- 
cess in  obtaining  phenomena.  Usually  the  whole 
company,  including  the  medium,  were  seated  around 
the  table,  each  member  ©f  the  circle  clasping  the  hand 
of  his  neighbor  on  either  side.  Various  reasons  were 


2/0        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

given  for  this  practice,  but,  whatever  the  reason 
assigned,  each  medium  considered  it  an  essential  con- 
dition of  success.  Hence  they  were  designated  as 
"  circles  " ;  and  each  member  was  strictly  enjoined 
not  to  break  the  continuity  of  the  circle.  The  fact 
that  this  condition  was,  for  some  reason,  essential 
to  success  was  demonstrated  by  the  phenomena ;  thus, 
as  long  as  the  circle  remained  unbroken,  a  good 
medium  would  have  at  her  command  the  thoughts  of 
all  present,  but  the  moment  that  the  contact  was 
broken  anywhere  in  the  circle  the  medium  would  im- 
mediately become  aware  of  the  fact  and  complain  of 
"  inharmonious  conditions."  Many  mediums  were 
able  to  locate  the  exact  point  where  contact  was 
broken ;  others  could  locate  a  skeptic  anywhere  in  the 
circle;  and  some  would  be  unable  to  proceed  until 
the  offending  member  was  ousted  from  the  circle. 

Spiritists,  of  course,  will  say  that  these  phenomena 
had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  thought-transfer- 
ence between  living  persons,  and  that  it  was  all  due 
to  the  limitations  of  spiritual  intercourse.  This  ques- 
tion need  not  be  argued  in  this  connection,  for  such 
phenomena  do  not  stand  alone  as  evidence  of  the 
point  we  wish  to  make.  The  same  phenomena  occur 
in  experimental  thought-transference  where  physical 
conditions  are  the  same.  That  is  to  say,  thought- 
transference  is  almost  invariably  facilitated  by  physi- 
cal contact  between  the  agent  and  the  percipient.  I 
have  made  hundreds  of  experiments  with  the  view 
of  testing  this  question,  while  at  the  same  time  elim- 
inating the  possible  element  of  muscle-reading.  Thus, 
I  assume  that  when  a  telepathist,  under  test  condi- 
tions, correctly  states  the  denomination  of  a  card 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE  27 1 

drawn  at  random  from  a  pack,  there  is  no  possible 
code  of  signals,  consciously  or  unconsciously  em- 
ployed, that  will  enable  one  person  to  convey  to  an- 
other a  statement  that  the  jack  of  clubs  has  been 
drawn  from  the  pack.  And  when  nine-tenths  of  all 
the  cards  in  the  pack  are  correctly  named  in  rapid 
succession,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  "muscle-reading," 
in  the  sense  in  which  Dr.  Carpenter  employed  it,  is 
ridiculously  inadequate  to  explain  the  phenomena.  I 
have  repeatedly  made  the  following  experiment: 
Selecting  a  company  of  six  or  eight  persons,  I  would 
securely  blindfold  one  of  the  party  to  act  as  the  per- 
cipient, then  draw  a  card  at  random  from  a  pack 
and  place  it  on  a  table  in  full  view  of  every  one,  except 
of  course  the  percipient.  Under  such  circumstances 
telepathy  is  comparatively  easy,  provided  the  mem- 
bers of  the  company  are  earnest  and  harmonious ;  but 
I  have  invariably  noted  that  where  the  percipient  is 
new  to  the  experiment  his  lucidity  is  greatly  pro- 
moted by  forming  a  circle  of  which  he  is  a  part.  It 
is  an  exceptionally  good  psychic  who  can  dispense 
with  physical  contact  in  the  beginning  of  his  career. 
The  same  remarks  apply  to  phenomena  other  than 
card-reading. 

I  once  had  the  privilege  of  experimenting  with  one 
of  the  best  telepathists  in  the  United  States.  She 
could  read  in  rapid  succession  a  whole  pack  of  cards 
without  an  error.  During  the  course  of  my  experi- 
ments I  was  induced  to  commit  the  unpardonable 
folly  of  trying  to  convince  a  so-called  scientist  of  the 
fact  that  telepathy  was  a  power  of  the  human  mind. 
In  making  the  experiment  I  caused  him  to  purchase 
a  new  pack  of  cards  from  a  neighboring  store,  to 


272         THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

shuffle  them  himself  behind  the  back  of  the  psychic, 
who  was  also  blindfolded  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of 
the  scientist.  In  pursuance  of  instructions,  he  drew 
a  card  from  the  centre  of  the  pack  and  exhibited  it 
to  me.  The  lady  was  somewhat  embarrassed  at  first 
and  hesitated  somewhat  in  naming  the  card;  finally 
she  asked  me  to  take  hold  of  her  hand,  whereupon 
she  instantly  named  the  card.  This  was  repeated  in 
rapid  succession  until  the  whole  pack  was  exhausted. 
This  feat  having  been  performed  without  an  error, 
the  scientist  was  asked  to  express  an  opinion.  This 
he  did  with  great  promptitude  and  alacrity  by  inform- 
ing me  that  it  was  all  "  muscle-reading."  Neither 
myself  nor  the  psychic  had  anticipated  such  a  reply 
under  the  circumstances,  whereupon  she  offered  to 
repeat  the  experiment  without  physical  contact.  The 
challenge  was  accepted  and  the  scientist  was  allowed 
to  prescribe  his  own  conditions.  The  result  was  that 
the  lady  named  more  than  half  of  the  cards  correctly. 
The  falling  off  was  doubtless  due  to  embarrassment 
and  over-anxiety,  and  partly  to  the  fact  that  thought- 
transference  is  facilitated  by  physical  contact. 

It  should  be  remarked  in  this  connection  that  these 
experiments  were  not  made  with  special  reference  to 
testing  the  question  of  thought-transference  by  phys- 
ical contact.  I  could,  however,  fill  many  volumes  the 
size  of  this  with  incidents  demonstrative  of  the  prop- 
osition that  physical  contact  does  facilitate  thought- 
transference  in  cases  where  muscle-reading  is  simply 
out  of  the  question.  It  remains  to  inquire  what  is 
the  physical  mechanism  that  enables  this  to  be  done. 
The  answer  is  not  far  to  seek,  and  the  reader  has 
already  anticipated  me,  when  I  say  that  the  nervous 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE  273 

organism  of  man  appears  to  be  specially  designed  for 
that  purpose.  Everybody  knows  that  the  nerves  have 
their  terminals  in  the  cuticle ;  that  the  terminal  nerve 
cells  are  more  highly  differentiated  than  almost  any 
others,  especially  those  located  in  the  tips  of  the 
fingers.  They  are  differentiated  with  special  refer- 
ence to  the  conveyance  and  reception  of  intelligence. 
The  result  is  that  when  contact  is  made  with  another 
by  the  laying  on  of  hands,  a  chain  of  communication 
is  established  between  the  subjective  minds  of  the 
two  individuals.  It  follows  that  physical  contact  by 
laying  on  of  hands  brings  each  and  every  cell  of  the 
bodies  of  both  the  agent  and  the  percipient  into  poten- 
tial rapport,  and  that  this  rapport  may  be  made 
actual  by  a  proper  mental  effort. 

It  will  now  be  seen  that  man  is  endowed  with  the 
requisite  mechanism  for  mental  healing  by  means  of 
physical  contact. 


CHAPTER   IX 

CONCLUSIONS  — THEORETICAL  AND   PRACTICAL 

The  Hypothetical  Magnetic  Fluid.  —  Histionic  Suggestion  competent 
to  explain  all  the  Facts  of  Mesmerism.  —  This  Form  of  Sugges- 
tion the  most  effective  as  a  Therapeutic  Agency.  —  It  may  operate 
independently  of  the  Volition  of  the  Patient.  —  The  Nerve  Termi- 
nals the  Means  provided  by  Nature  for  the  Transmission  of  Histi- 
onic Suggestions.  —  The  Spinal  Column  the  Guide  to  one  Set  of 
Terminals,  and  Pain  the  Guide  to  the  other.  —  This  Process  of 
Treatment  available  to  all. 

HAVING  now  definitely  ascertained  the  existence 
of  a  law  of  mental  medicine  hitherto  unrecog- 
nized, it  remains  to  inquire  what  conclusions,  practi- 
cal and  theoretical,  are  derivable  therefrom.  The  first 
conclusion  is  in  reference  to  its  bearing  upon  the 
question  of  mesmerism.  It  is  obvious  at  a  glance  that 
the  old  theory  of  fluidic  emanations,  or  animal  mag- 
netism, so  called,  is,  to  say  the  least,  unnecessary. 
And  it  is  an  axiom  of  science  that  an  unnecessary 
theory  is  necessarily  wrong. 

The  theory  of  fluidic  emanations  has  held  its  place 
in  the  minds  of  a  large  number  of  people  simply  for 
the  want  of  a  rational  hypothesis  that  would  other- 
wise explain  the  phenomena ;  and  this,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  it  accounts  for  but  a  very  small 
portion  of  them,  and  fails  entirely  in  the  most  vital 
and  essential  particulars.  Thus,  the  fact  that  con- 
centration of  mind  on  the  part  of  the  healer  is  essen- 


CONCLUSIONS  275 

tial  to  success  reveals  the  fact  that  the  process  of 
healing  is  a  purely  mental  one,  and  is  not  due  to  a 
fluidic  emanation  from  the  healer  in  the  nature  of 
magnetism.  In  fact,  Deleuze,  the  ablest  of  the  old 
writers  on  the  subject  of  mesmerism,  and  an  advocate 
of  the  magnetic  theory,  admitted  that  the  existence  of 
the  hypothetical  magnetic  fluid  was  far  from  being 
demonstrated.  Nor  did  he  seem  to  regard  it  as  pos- 
sible to  demonstrate  its  existence.  On  the  contrary, 
in  his  work  on  "  Instruction  in  Animal  Magnetism  " 
(Hartshorn's  translation),  he  begins  by  laying  down 
thirty-four  "  general  principles "  of  animal  mag- 
netism, upwards  of  twenty  of  which  exclude  the  mag- 
netic theory.  That  is  to  say,  the  great  bulk  of  his 
general  principles  presupposed  a  definite  mental  con- 
dition, and  prescribed  a  specific  mental  attitude,  on 
the  part  of  the  healer,  as  prerequisites  to  successful 
work.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  these  are  conditions 
as  far  removed  as  possible  from  those  which  one 
would  naturally  suppose  to  be  requisite  under  the 
theory  of  fluidic  emanations.  To  say  the  least,  both 
theories  are  unnecessary.  Both  theories,  therefore, 
under  the  law  of  parsimony,  cannot  be  true.  We 
must,  therefore,  make  a  choice  between  the  theory  of 
fluidic  emanations,  or  animal  magnetism,  and  that  of 
the  transmission  of  intelligence  by  means  of  physi- 
cal contact,  or  histionic  suggestion,  —  provided,  of 
course,  that  one  of  the  hypotheses  is  competent  to 
explain  all  the  facts.  Otherwise  both  must  be 
rejected. 

Without  stopping  to  argue  the  question  further, 
I  assume  that  I  have  already  shown  that  the  hypoth- 
esis of  histionic  suggestion  is  clearly  competent  to 


276        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

explain  all  the  facts  of  mesmerism,  and  remove  all 
that  is  mysterious  in  its  phenomena  from  the  do- 
mains of  mysticism  and  superstition.  If  it  is  capable 
of  this  task,  it  follows  that  all  cognate  phenomena 
are  explicable  under  the  same  hypothesis;  and  these 
comprise  a  vast  congeries  of  the  most  important 
psychic  phenomena  that  have  puzzled  man  and  filled 
him  with  superstitious  dread  throughout  all  the  ages. 

It  would  be  a  work  of  supererogation  to  attempt  to 
classify  all  the  various  phases  of  these  phenomena. 
The  intelligent  reader  has  already  done  so  for  himself, 
as  the  application  of  the  principles  is  perfectly  obvious. 
I  cannot  refrain,  however,  from  remarking  upon  the 
subject  in  its  relations  to  mental  medicine.  The  first 
thing  to  be  observed  is  that  this  law  does  not  conflict 
with  the  psychological  aspects  of  mental  medicine  as 
developed  in  Part  I.  of  this  book.  That  is  to  say,  the 
Law  of  Suggestion  is  the  dominant  energy  which  con- 
trols therapeutic  action  in  all  cases.  Histionic  sug- 
gestion is  merely  another  form  of  suggestion,  and  it 
is,  I  venture  to  assert,  the  most  effective  of  all 
methods  or  forms  of  that  agency. 

From  a  historical  point  of  view  the  theory  of  histi- 
onic  suggestion  is  invested  with  transcendent  inter- 
est and  importance.  The  wonderful  cures  effected 
through  all  the  ages  by  the  laying  on  of  hands  has 
hitherto  found  no  scientific  explanation  beyond  that 
afforded  by  the  theory  of  oral  suggestion.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  phenomena  produced  by  mesmeric 
processes.  It  is  now  seen,  however,  that  a  potent 
energy  is  released  by  physical  contact,  and  made 
available  for  healing  the  sick.  It  is  the  most  potent 
form  of  suggestion  known,  for  the  reason  that  it 


"  CONCLUSIONS  277 

may  operate  independently  of  the  volition  of  the 
patient.  This  would  seem,  at  first  glance,  to  form  an 
exception  to  the  rule  that  the  faith  of  the  patient  is 
always  essential  to  success  in  mental  healing.  The 
fact  is,  however,  that  it  is  merely  a  question  of  degree. 
That  is  to  say,  the  mental  energy  of  the  healer  is 
transmitted  directly  or  indirectly  through  the  nerves 
to  the  seat  of  the  disease ;  and  the  active  co-operation 
of  the  subjective  mind  of  the  patient  is  not  always 
essential,  a  state  of  passivity  being  all  that  is  required. 
This  is  easily  secured  in  therapeutical  cases;  for  one 
is  not  prone  to  active  opposition  to  the  restoration  of 
his  health,  even  though  his  judgment  may  regard  the 
means  as  of  doubtful  efficiency.  It  was  this  fact  that 
enabled  Jesus,  in  his  native  village,  to  heal  the  sick  by 
the  laying  on  of  hands,  although  he  failed  to  do 
many  wonderful  works  in  that  city  "  because  of  their 
unbelief." 

And  this  is  why  children  too  young  to  be  affected 
by  the  ordinary  forms  of  suggestion  are  peculiarly 
susceptible  to  mesmeric  treatment  or  treatment  by  the 
laying  on  of  hands.  The  old  mesmerists,  indeed, 
claimed  to  be  able  to  heal  domestic  animals  by  mes- 
meric passes  or  by  the  laying  on  of  hands.  It  was 
upon  this  assertion  that  one  of  their  strongest  argu- 
ments for  the  magnetic  theory  was  built.  "  It  could 
not  be  a  mental  impression,"  they  urged,  "  because 
neither  animals  nor  young  children  were  able  to  under- 
stand the  import  of  a  mental  suggestion."  But  this 
argument  falls  to  the  ground  in  view  of  the  well-ascer- 
tained fact  that  emotional  and  therapeutic  impulses 
can  be  conveyed  by  thought-transference  in  cases 
where  it  is  impossible  to  transmit  an  intelligible  mes- 


2/8         THE  LAW   OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

sage  involving  the  use  of  words.  The  Society  for 
Psychical  Research,  in  the  course  of  their  investi- 
gations, established  this  fact  beyond  a  doubt;  and 
Ochorowicz,  in  his  monumental  work  on  Mental  Sug- 
gestion, has  demonstrated  the  same  proposition. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  histionic  suggestion  is 
by  far  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  forms  in  which 
that  agency  can  be  employed,  because  it  is  the  most 
direct  and  most  positive. 

The  question  remains,  What  facilities  has  nature 
provided  for  the  transmission  of  histionic  sugges- 
tions? The  success  which  the  laying  on  of  hands 
has  met  with  in  all  the  ages  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  the  exact  process  of.  healing  by  those  methods  is 
a  matter  of  indifference;  that  is  to  say,  it  would 
seem  that  physical  contact  with  almost  any  part  of  the 
body  would  be  effective.  To  a  certain  extent  this  is 
undoubtedly  true.  That  is  to  say,  contact  with  any 
nerve  in  the  body  places  the  operator  in  communi- 
cation, directly  or  indirectly,  with  every  other  nerve 
in  the  body ;  and  therapeutic  impulses  may  therefore 
be  conveyed  from  any  point  of  contact.  Nevertheless, 
there  is  always  a  right  way  and  a  wrong  way  of  doing 
anything.  It  is  obvious  that  the  best  way  to  convey 
a  therapeutic  impulse  to  an  affected  part  of  the  body 
is  to  follow  the  lines  of  least  resistance;  these  lines 
are  undoubtedly  those  that  reach  the  affected  part 
most  directly.  It  follows  that  some  knowledge  of 
anatomy  is  very  useful  to  the  operator  in  determining 
the  best  method  of  procedure.  Fortunately,  however, 
nature  has  provided  a  means  by  which  any  one 
may  obtain  a  practical  knowledge  sufficient  to  enable 
him  to  practise  histionic  suggestion  in  the  most 


CONCLUSIONS  279 

effective  manner.  A  few  words  will  make  my  mean- 
ing clear. 

Obviously  the  most  effective  method  of  reaching 
a  diseased  part  is  the  most  direct  method;  that  is  to 
say,  given  a  diseased  organ,  the  terminals  of  the 
nerves  which  reach  that  organ  are  the  ones  to  be 
treated. 

Again,  we  are  assisted  in  reaching  a  definite  con- 
clusion by  the  researches  of  modern  medical  science; 
and  again  a  tribute  of  admiration  is  extorted  for  the 
manner  in  which  nature  has  provided  the  means  by 
which  practice  under  this  system  is  rendered  avail- 
able to  all.  Turning  to  the  great  work  of  Dr.  John 
Hilton,  an  eminent  English  physician,  entitled  "  Rest 
and  Pain ;  or,  The  Therapeutic  Influence  of  Rest  and 
the  Diagnostic  Value  of  Pain,"  we  find  that  nature 
has  provided  a  means  by  which  the  humblest  cell 
in  the  human  body  can  be  reached  with  absolute 
certainty. 

Dr.  Hilton  points  out  that  there  are  two  ways  of 
reaching  each  individual  organ  of  the  human  body 
through  the  nervous  system ;  that  is  to  say,  there  are 
two  nerve  terminals  available  for  treatment  by  the  lay- 
ing on  of  hands.  One  system  lies  along  each  side  of 
the  spinal  column,  the  nerves  projecting  to  the  surface 
"  from  the  vertebral  canal  through  the  intervertebral 
foramina,  close  to  the  bones  or  the  intervertebral 
substances." 

It  is  safe  to  say  that,  by  digital  manipulation  of 
these  nerve  terminals,  any  organ  of  the  human  body 
may  be  reached  directly.  If  the  operator  possesses  a 
sufficient  knowledge  of  the  nervous  system,  he  may 
of  course  save  a  little  time  and  labor  by  selecting  the 


280        THE  LAW  OF  MENTAL  MEDICINE 

right  nerve  at  once.  This,  however,  is  unnecessary 
from  a  practical  point  of  view,  for  the  reason  that  the 
whole  spinal  column  can  be  manipulated  with  but 
little  extra  trouble;  and  the  beneficial  effect  of  a 
treatment  of  the  whole  spinal  column  amply  compen- 
sates for  all  the  labor  expended.  Besides,  it  often 
happens  that  more  than  one  organ  is  affected  sympa- 
thetically, and  requires  treatment  accordingly.  Dr. 
Hilton  also  shows  that  each  organ,  each  muscle,  and 
each  joint  of  the  body  furnish  also  a  distribution  of 
the  nerves  to  the  skin  over  the  insertions  of  the  same 
muscles.  It  is  to  this  fact  that  the  doctor  alludes 
when  he  speaks  of  the  diagnostic  value  of  pain.  It 
will  thus  be  seen  that  nature  has  provided  a  sure  guide 
to  the  peripheral  nerve  terminals  of  every  organ  of 
the  human  body.  The  doctor  points  out  that  in  some 
cases  the  seat  of  the  disease  when  in  the  muscles  or 
joints  may  be  somewhat  remote  from  the  nerve  ter- 
minals where  the  pain  is  manifested.  The  treatment, 
however,  whatever  it  may  be,  must  be  made  where 
the  pain  manifests  itself.  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
Dr.  Hilton  makes  no  mention  of  other  than  the  or- 
thodox treatment  of  the  old  school  of  medicine.  The 
applicability  of  his  facts,  however,  to  treatment  by  the 
laying  on  of  hands  is  self-evident.  All  there  is  to  do 
is  to  manipulate  or  massage  one  or  both  of  the  two 
sets  of  nerve  terminals.  The  spinal  column  is  the 
guide  to  one  set  of  terminals,  and  pain  the  guide  to 
the  other. 

The  question  will  now  be  asked,  Is  this  process  of 
treatment  available  to  all  alike?  My  answer  is,  No! 
That  is  to  say,  there  are  different  degrees  of  efficiency 
in  different  individuals;  the  highest  degree  being 


CONCL  US  IONS  2  8 1 

attainable  by  well-developed  psychics.  The  treat- 
ment, however,  is  available  to  all  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree;  and  practice  will  enable  any  one  in  a  short 
time  to  attain  a  high  degree  of  efficiency.  The  essen- 
tial thing  to  be  observed  in  all  cases  is  that  the  mind 
must  be  concentrated  upon  the  work  in  hand ;  other- 
wise the  work  is  purely  mechanical,  depending  for  its 
efficiency  upon  mechanical  stimulation  of  the  nerves, 
the  same  as  in  ordinary  massage.  It  is,  however, 
more  efficient  than  ordinary  massage,  because  the 
effect  is  more  direct  upon  the  nerves  involved.  It  is, 
indeed,  in  all  its  phases  nature's  remedy  for  disease, 
and  it  is  instinctively  employed  in  thousands  of  in- 
stances; for  example,  when  the  sympathetic  mother 
soothes  her  nervous  and  restless  infant  by  rubbing  her 
hand  on  its  bare  back.  ' 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  process  is  simple  to  the 
last  degree,  and  requires  no  further  elucidation  to 
enable  any  intelligent  person  to  put  it  into  immediate 
and  effective  practice. 


THE   END 


EIGHTIETH   THOUSAND 


THE  LAW  OF 
PSYCHIC  PHENOMENA 

A  Working   Hypothesis   for  the   Systematic  Study 
of  Hypnotism,  Spiritism,  Mental  Therapeutics,  etc. 

By   THOMSON    J.    HUDSON,   LL.D. 

DR.  HUDSON'S  famous  book  enjoys  an  almost  phe- 
nomenal prosperity,  and  after  going  through  many 
editions  has  now  reached  the  sixty  thousand  mark  without 
the  slightest  diminution  in  favor.  It  is  not  at  all  uncom- 
mon to  find  it  listed  ahead  of  the  popular  novels  among 
books  most  in  demand  at  public  libraries.  There  are  many 
reasons  for  this  established  popularity,  the  chief  one  being 
that  the  book  stands  absolutely  alone  in  its  field  —  a 
masterpiece  in  its  own  sphere.  The  questions  with  which 
it  deals,  lying  along  the  unsettled  borderlands  of  Science, 
have  all  the  fascination  which  mystery  exercises  on  the 
human  mind ;  the  clear,  unbiased,  truth-seeking  attitude  of 
the  author  earned  for  him  the  respect  of  scientists ;  while 
the  large  class  of  readers  to  whom  the  religious  aspect 
of  such  questions  is  the  all-important  one,  felt  reassured  by 
the  rare  union  of  intrepidity  and  reverence  displayed  in  his 
investigations. 

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NINTH  EDITION 


A  SCIENTIFIC 
DEMONSTRATIO  N 
of  the  FUTURE  LIFE 

By   THOMSON    J.   HUDSON,    LL.D. 


THE  success  that  "  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenom- 
ena "  met  with  induced  the  author  to  prepare 
and  publish  the  present  volume,  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  to  their  legitimate  conclusions  some  of  the 
principles  laid  down  in  his  former  one.  Dr.  Hudson, 
in  pursuing  his  inquiry,  has  endeavored  to  follow  the 
strictest  rules  of  scientific  induction,  taking  nothing 
for  granted  that  is  not  axiomatic,  and  holding  that 
there  is  nothing  worthy  of  belief  that  is  not  sustained 
by  a  solid  basis  of  well-authenticated  facts. —  The 
New  York  Times. 

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FIFTH  EDITION 


THE  DIVINE  PEDIGREE 

OF  MAN 

Or,  The  Testimony  of  E/volutwn  and 
Psychology  to  the  Fatherhood  of  God 

By  THOMSON    J.   HUDSON,   LL.D. 

AN  original  conception  of  evolution  which  is  worked  out 
with  the  same  avoidance  of  vague  theory,  and  the 
same  adherence  to  a  basis  of  well-authenticated  facts  and 
to  cogent  and  logical  reasoning,  which  characterize  Dr. 
Hudson's  former  works.  It  presents  an  original  and  con- 
vincing interpretation  of  the  facts  which  have  been  accumu- 
lated by  the  labors  of  scientists  such  as  Hseckel,  Darwin, 
and  Spencer ;  and  constitutes  an  attempt  to  establish 
thereby  the  belief  in  Christian  Theism.  It  shows  that  the 
god-like  powers  of  man  exist  potentially  in  the  lowest  forms 
of  animal  life  known  to  us ;  and  advances  a  powerfully 
eloquent  argument  against  the  atheistic  attitude  which  so 
many  evolutionists  have  assumed. 

The  book  reveals  much  study  and  research,  and  its  optimism 
is  sure  to  bring  much  cheer  to  those  who  can  accept  its  theories. 
—  Chicago  Tribune. 

An  interesting  and  valuable  contribution  to  the  discussion  of 
a  great  problem. —  The  Sunday-School  Times. 

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DR.  HUDSON'S  LAST  BOOK 

THE    EVOLUTION 
OF  THE   SOUL 

AND    OTHER    ESSAYS 
By    THOMSON     J.    HUDSON,    LL.D. 

AFTER  the  death  of  Dr.  Hudson  in  1903,  enough 
material  was  found  among  his  papers  for  one 
more  book  from  his  bold  and  original  pen.  It  con- 
sists of  a  number  of  lectures  delivered  at  various 
times,  and  all  dealing  with  the  subject  on  which  he  is 
now  an  acknowledged  authority.  This  collection  of 
scattered  papers  supplements  most  admirably  his 
previous  books, —  particularly  "The  Law  of  Mental 
Medicine "  and  "  The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena," 
—  and  will,  in  a  way,  help  to  complete  the  work  most 
deplorably  interrupted  by  his  untimely  death.  To  say 
that  these  essays  are  in  Dr.  Hudson's  characteristic 
and  illuminating  style  is  all  that  is  needed  to  convince 
his  thousands  of  admirers  that  this  posthumous  vol- 
ume is  one  of  the  most  absorbing  interest.  The 
addition  of  the  portrait  and  biographical  sketch  will 
also  be  much  appreciated. 

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